Maizakura to Hyakuraiken
by Patelli
Summary: With Naruto gone to train with Killerbee, Sakura takes the chance to seek instruction. Just as she's at a loss what to do, the Haruno clan provides her with a sensei. Also starring Raido, Ino, & eventually Yamato.
1. I Hanabi

**I had this story lazing about in my computer, so I decided to post it. This is really just a prologue and the story is probably going to be a lot longer. Kakashi and Sakura are my two favourite characters, so I figured I had better write a story about them. Consider this my New Years gift y'all.**

**Oh and it's set during the period when Naruto is off training with the Kyuubi, for the sake of this story, he is gone for about two weeks so this is about what everyone else is up to.**

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise.

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Maizakura to Hyakuraiken

Chapter 1: Hanabi (Fireworks)

Sunset had vanished giving way to an especially starry night. Most of these stars normally would be blocked out by the city lights of Konoha. But that was before its unfortunate destruction. Some of the buildings had returned, but mostly the necessities such as the hospital, business district, and the apartment buildings.

Despite the tragic view of the city, Sakura was enjoying the stars from her vantage on the bedroom balcony. It wasn't often she could see the twinkling lights like she did tonight, only when she was on missions far from civilisation. But unlike a mission, she could simply relax and enjoy herself.

She was also hoping that the stargazing would make her drowsy. Despite feeling worked to the bone at the hospital for the last few days, she was finding it hard to fall asleep, especially in a borrowed bed.

She and her parents were staying with the Akimichi family, whose home had been rebuilt before theirs via a village lottery. Even though it was a little cramped, it was better than staying in the hastily made and tightly packed apartments for the displaced residents, especially with winter closing in being already well into December.

A loud snort broke the silence almost causing Sakura to jump. It was soon followed by a constant dull rumble. Her thankful feelings wavered for a moment as she remembered why she had had difficulty falling asleep.

"Oh dear," she moaned. "I should have taken mom's advice and grabbed earplugs. But they really are irritating, probably because their not the same shape as the ear buds." She mentally scolded herself for being so fussy.

But she really didn't feel like sleeping anyway. "I'm going for a walk," she muttered to herself.

Most would consider walking through dark streets at night as a risky endeavour, but to Sakura, the city, broken or not, gave her comfort.

"I would get ramen right now, but since Naruto is gone, it would be dull. I don't even like the stuff, too fattening." She thought it funny that of all things to talk about in this silence, she would talk about her figure. _Too much time with Ino,_ she mused. But of all people, Ino was the person she spoke to the most, when their friendship was in its 'on' stage. "I need a broader social life." she mumbled half-heartedly.

She lifted her foot to move forward, but to her surprise she couldn't, she was stuck mid-stride. Two darkly clothed figures hopped down from a nearby roof and grabbed her paralysed arms.

"You're coming with us!" on of them said, trying to disguise his voice.

However, Sakura hadn't been fooled, "Kiba? What's going on?" she asked irritated, trying to struggle but finding that her attempts were in vain. Shadow possession?

Seeming to confirm her suppositions, Shikamaru spoke up from somewhere behind her, "I know it's a pain, but humour us, alright?"

She sighed as she was blindfolded, figuring she would play along with whatever this little game was.

After a few more minutes of leaping, they landed and removed Sakura's blindfold. Her eyes were first greeted by the roaring bonfire then she noticed the bright streamers and paper lanterns hanging from trees and roof corners. The scent of festive dishes wafted to her nose.

"What's all this?" Sakura asked bewildered.

"A party," Ino explained as she approached. "We decided since most of the teams are here we would celebrate, consider it an academy reunion."

Sakura stared blankly back at Ino's cheerful face. "Ok," she replied, "but was it really necessary to kidnap me?"

Kiba replied sharply, "Consider it payback for knocking us out on our last mission together."

"What he means," Shikamaru intervened, "is that we wanted to surprise you since you've seemed glum lately, even if it was a pain."

Sakura smiled with a mixture of embarrassment and guilt. "Thanks, and I am sorry Kiba. I hope that I can someday make up for my actions."

Kiba scratched the back of his head nervously and maintained a determined frown, "Nah, we we're over that -" he suddenly became distracted, "Hey Shino!" Kiba hurried over to his non-social team-mate.

Sakura sighed, "I suppose I'll have to find a way to make it up to them."

"Hey, Forehead!" Ino yelled as she wrapped her arm around Sakura's, "I'm going to get you into something festive looking." Sakura could not help but be dragged along as Ino explained the festivities. "So, first we are having the bonfire with dances and dinner, and when it's dark enough there's going to be fireworks! Courtesy of the Nara family."

Sakura was pushed behind a screen where she was confronted by a white kimono with an aquamarine lily print. As she put it on, she asked for more info on the party. "How many people are here?"

"Well," Ino began, her voice muffled by another screen, "Teams 10, 8, and you. We also have Iruka, Kurenai, Shizune and Gai here. We were hoping to have all of your team as well, but Naruto and Yamato are gone who knows where. Sai is off on a mission, and even though Kakashi is on a forced vacation after dying and coming back, who knows if he'll show. He didn't even RSVP to the invitation. Really, that man! He has no sense of decency!"

Sakura chuckled, "Even if he said that he would come, he would be coming very late."

The two young women stepped out from behind their screens. Sakura looked stunned when she saw Ino wearing a matching kimono, except with a bamboo design.

"You like it?" Ino asked, posing, "I chose a colour that brings out both of our eyes. Now, let's go out their and surprise the boys."

Sakura grinned, realising that Ino and her were on truce, no fighting tonight. "Yes, let's," she agreed.

* * *

A few hours later, Sakura escaped to the roof. It was getting to be time for fireworks and she wanted to get a good spot. Also she was finding that she wasn't much of a party person anymore. She loved to get together with friends, but four hours of festivities seemed to be her limit. Besides, it was getting late and everyone was winding down. Her friends Ino and Hinata were both sitting down with their team-mates. Sakura didn't want to be the extra person who would simply intrude on their current closeness that only team members can have.

From her view on the roof, she could see Hinata shiver for a mere instant and Kiba removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders as Shino handed her a cup of hot tea. Though she couldn't see it, Sakura was positive that Hinata smiled in thanks. Those three really were cute.

She kind of wished her kimono wasn't so warm so as to give her an excuse to be pampered. But then again, who would be her pamperers? She tried to imagine Naruto and Sai doing the same, but it came out as a horrendously unnatural image. Naruto is too dense to notice such a subtle message. Sai might get the point, but he wouldn't treat her like a lady, just like a doctor would a patient, cold and insensitive. Granted, Sai was getting better at being human, but it would be worse for him to force himself to be so nice.

However, there was one team-mate who would probably treat her like that. Yamato had always behaved towards her with concern. She smiled, there was _one_ gentleman who she worked with.

_Complaining about such things are pointless,_ she reminded herself, _I'm a ninja, being treated like a lady isn't in the job description. Still,_ she looked back at Hinata, _it seems some people get the best of both worlds._ The last thought was slightly envious, but she also realised that she was a different person from Hinata, who's delicate demeanour makes others want to help her, or Ino, who's attitude demanded attention. She, Sakura, was just one of the guys.

"You're in my spot." a relaxed voice interrupted her thoughts.

Sakura turned to see Kakashi, ubiquitous book in hand, walking atop the roof tiles. His face, what could be seen of it, had the dull look of general indifference.

Sakura gave a sideways grin and replied, "You're late, of course I took your spot. You missed great food, and Guy-sensei made an absolute fool of himself doin-"

"He," Kakashi interjected, "is precisely why I spent so much time trying to think of a reason to not come. All that thinking distracted me and made me late."

"You told the truth," Sakura noted, "I'm impressed."

"I'm not in the mood to irritate anyone." Kakashi replied.

"Well," Sakura replied, "at least you aren't going to miss the fireworks." She stood up when she heard a crackling noise.

The sky erupted in lights. With the sudden illumination Kakashi noticed Sakura's outfit. It surprised him, he had never seen her look so… grown up. That was a harrowing thought, if she's grown up now, he's one generation close to being considered old. How he hated that term.

Sakura looked at him and noticed his line of sight, "Like the get up?" she asked turning slightly from side to side, "Ino picked it out."

Kakashi silently nodded; in the back of his mind he was feeling a little ashamed that he was only wearing an old black shirt and blue pants. And here was his subordinate dressed to the nines.

"Sensei?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"Do you think Naruto will be gone for a long time?"

"Why do you ask?"

She sighed sadly, the atmosphere seeming to change with her mood as she sat back down, now oblivious to the impressive firework show, "Last time he went away for training, he didn't return for over two years. He's an idiot and a nuisance, but he's also one of the few people I feel close to. If he were to be gone for a long time, it would feel as if my already small world shrunk."

Kakashi also sat down to be at her level, "I don't think it will be too long, just until we get rid of our current enemy."

Sakura remained silent. He mentally kicked himself for making tentative predictions. He had done that once before when Sasuke and Naruto had fought on the roof, he promised her it would be fine. And he let that false promise eat at him for three years. He looked at her, only recently had they really made what could be called a trust that could be called true teamwork.

Sakura smiled ruefully and finally spoke, "He'll probably have a lot of new tricks to show me."

"Then you should be training as well, you can't let him get too far ahead of you. And trust me on one thing, if you think of him has a rival for now, you will find that time will fly by as you keep busy working towards your goal. You might find he will arrive all too soon."

Sakura was taken aback to have gained advice so openly from her former teacher, who always seemed to hold to a "school-of-hard-knocks" method. She grinned broadly, her green eyes shining. "Thank you, I'll do that, starting tomorrow."

The two sat in silence until the last mortar shot into the air and bloomed into green and red blossoms. Then the two nodded to one another, and silently went their separate ways.

On her walk home, Sakura thought about what her sensei had said. The question was, when was she going to start on her training?

* * *

**So, what did y'all think? Chapter 2, Oba-san will be posted eventually... I want to finish my Bleach fic first, but I'm in a writer's block there at the moment. Oh, and who else thinks that it's awesome that I published this on 1/1/11… Well I thought it was cool.**


	2. II Obaasan

**And here is the second chapter, introducing the first OC and time to get some neglected Haruno clan history. And an explanation for why Sakura's hair is pink!**

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Chapter 2: Oba-san (Grandmother)

The next morning the Haruno family sat around the table for breakfast.

"So," Mrs. Haruno began, "You were out late last night. Is there something you need to tell us?"

Sakura looked stunned at the interrogation. She was actually going to tell her mom in a few moments, but now that she was being asked, in that way, she felt awkward.

"I, well, it wasn't my choice. I was,"

"Yes," he dad said gravely, "I'm going to have to have a serious chat with this boy about his intentions."

"No it's not like that!" Sakura blurted out. Her cheeks and worse yet, her ears had turned bright shades of pink.

Her parents laughed, "Relax," her mother reassured her, "We had gotten a call from Mrs. Nara about the party."

Sakura's jaw dropped in realisation that her parents were in cahoots with that 'surprise' last night. "Don't do that!" she exclaimed, "Try to make me feel embarrassed for no reason!" Then she sighed, her parents stilled retained their vicious sense of humour.

"However," her mother continued with a tone that made her daughter jump in her seat, "Mrs. Nara said this morning that you disappeared just as the fireworks started. So, who did you watch them with?"

"Mom, it was just K-"

"Sakura," her dad interrupted. "we are kidding. You are a trustworthy girl, relax."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I was going to tell you both all about it, just before you decided to scare me."

"I'm sorry dear," her mother gave her a quick hug, "You are just so fun to tease."

"About the fireworks," Sakura continued in a mock irritated tone, "I just went to the roof to spend some along time. I'm not a real party person. However Kakashi-sensei showed up and we just caught up and talked about Naruto."

Her dad nodded, "And this is why we were not worried in the first place. Can you forgive your gossip starved parents?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah."

Sakura returned to relishing her mother's skilfully cooked rice. This was certainly one of the primary reasons why she loved being on hiatus from the excitement of missions. Just as she put another bite in her mouth her mother spoke up.

"Sakura, your grandmother wants to see you"

"Me?" Sakura blurted out, "Why?"

"Don't be rude." her mother scolded calmly. "She just wants to give you some lessons."

"In what?" Sakura asked, her curiosity piqued. She had only ever seen her grandmother at festivals, and then she usually spent time with her cousins.

"She wouldn't say. Apparently it was for your ears alone." her father added.

The bustle of the early morning market was thunderous. Yelling merchants, dickering customers, and more ambient sounds such as footsteps, crackling grills, swaying doors and so on. Kakashi walked purposefully past all the bustle and made beeline to the bookstore.

He looked through the front window at the books on display. There were various genres represented, there was even an honorary omnibus made for Jiraiya's Icha Icha series. It didn't show much interest to the jounin as he already had it, in limited edition.

He sighed. He needed to get started on a new series. After all, there was no longer any potential for a sequel. After recovering from a momentary depression attack, he was just about to decide whether to start some other erotic series or go for something more respectable her heard a very familiar pair of footsteps.

He turned and saw Sakura looking up at signs and seeming lost. "That's odd." he muttered. Why would she be lost? It's same old Konoha, well rebuilt.

Just as she was about to pass on the other side of the street he called out at her uncharacteristically. "Sakura!"

She turned and made a slight smile as she walked over. "Hello again."

"You seem lost."

"Well," she blushed in shame, "yes, I am. I'm looking for Neko Avenue but as of yet I haven't been able to find it. It seems not all the street signs have been replaced."

"Oh I know where that is. However, I need your opinion on something first."

"What?" she asked suspiciously at his crinkled eyes which inevitably meant he was smiling.

"Should I start a new erotic series or go for something different?" Kakashi waited intently for her reaction, however he was somewhat disappointed as she flatly replied.

"I'm not much of a fiction reader, so I don't think I could really help you there. So could you tell me where Neko Avenue is?"

"Ok" he sighed. "First you walk all the way down this street then to the left. On the third intersection turn right then left then go through the park and along new lake…" He began to reconsider giving directions, "How about I just show you. Are you in a hurry?"

"No, we can walk." Sakura said as they passed through the market.

"So why do you have to go to that part of town, there's nothing there." Kakashi asked.

"My grandmother wanted to talk to me, teach me something…" Suddenly her eyes widened. "No!" she cried.

"What's wrong?" he asked surprised.

"I know what this is. My grandmother, she's probably the clan matchmaker! I'm turning seventeen in a couple months after all, so she's probably going to be teaching me all the graces of femininity!" a feeling of gloom passed over Sakura.

Kakashi figured it would be best to remain silent as his companion ranted her fears.

"Of course," Sakura continued, "if it is that, I already learned most of it in kunoichi school, so if anything, I'll get this done today and be over with it! Mission accomplished!" She concluded excitedly.

"Why are you so nervous about meeting your grandmother?" Kakashi asked, getting the mental image of a darling older woman who had a cat and made sweets. Then he had a side thought, this would be Sakura's grandmother, which meant Sakura might have gotten everything from her. That image was a little more intimidating.

"I don't know." Sakura sighed, "Maybe it's just that we've always been so distant, so I'm wondering what the catch is now." Suddenly the kunoichi stopped in her tracks.

Kakashi looked back in confusion then followed her gaze. She was staring at New Lake, the giant circle of water that composed the centre of Konoha.

"Notice something?" he asked.

"I was just thinking how I would like the lake to stay. Some people want to get rid of it, but I think it's a good memorial, to everything that happened. Besides, it's looks pretty at this time of day."

"Mm," Kakashi muttered in agreement.

"Well, enough of my day dreaming. Take me to my fate." Sakura said with a bright grin.

The silver haired jounin shook his head and waved for her to follow. After a few more twists and turns they arrived at a small, mass produced house a la Yamato.

"Well I guess this is it." Sakura said turning to Kakashi. She rubbed the back of her head as she thanked him, "You really helped me out."

Kakashi shrugged, keeping his hands in his pockets, "It's wasn't a bother. Good bye."

Sakura bowed and ran up to the door. She knocked cautiously.

"Is that you Sakura?" a woman's voice called out.

"Yes ma'am!" she replied.

"Then come on in!" she ordered warmly.

The jitters in Sakura's stomach faded. "Sorry for the intrusion," she said as she entered, removing her sandals. She followed the source of the voice and found herself in the kitchen where a woman sat with long greying pink hair tied back in a youthful ponytail. The woman turned and looked on Sakura with her green eyes.

"My my," she said, "You do look so much like me."

"Thanks." Sakura replied sheepishly.

"You're probably wondering why I called you here?" her grandmother said, smiling.

"Y-yes actually. What is it you are going to teach me?"

"Flower arrangement, then we move on to cooking and finally calligraphy, all the graces a good bride should have."

Sakura's face fell.

"And finally I'll help you find the man of your dreams."

Her countenance fell further, but she bolted upright when she heard the woman laugh.

"Oh you looked so down! How cute! I'm sorry dear, it was a joke."

The kunoichi looked up in bewilderment, Well, at least I know where mom get's it.

"Ok down to business." her grandmother began, "You are aware that our family has produced many ninja in the past right?"

"Umm, yes, I know we've had a few."

"Oh darling, we have had far more than a few. There have been hundreds of ninja of the Haruno clan. However nowadays we are rather small in number. I fear our great house has long passed by our glory days. But a hundred and seventy years ago, we were the ninjas in charge of protecting a very small kingdom located a mere few miles to the east of here."

Sakura sat forward intently, not knowing where the lecture was going, but fully interested.

"In fact, that crest you wear on your clothing is the symbol of the circular wall around that country, the one which Konoha based its own on, though on a much larger scale. Now back to my point, do you know where you got your name?"

"Because of my hair colour, pink, like the cherry blossoms." Sakura answered.

"Yes and no," the woman answered, "You see, my name, is Sakura as well, but you can call me Haruno to avoid confusion. Our namesake, the pink hair, isn't just for unique appearance, it symbolises something very important."

"What?" Sakura asked.

"You possess the same gene that I do, one which allows you the incredible chakra control and the fact that you are a genjutsu type ninja."

"You mean, like a bloodline limit?"

"Essentially yes," the older Haruno answered.

"So, what does this change, I mean, I have both of these, and I use the chakra control already."

"Yes, but you don't use genjutsu, do you?"

Sakura paused, and finally asked, "So, does that mean you are going to teach me genjutsu?"

Haruno smiled, "Yes, and not just any genjutsu, I want to teach you a secret jutsu that only the two of us can."

Sakura stood up excitedly, "Can we begin today?"

"First things first," Haruno chided, "let's have some tea and lunch, I need nourishment you know."

"Sorry," Sakura replied.

After the table had been set and Sakura was savouring a fantastically made rice ball, Haruno passed her granddaughter a small slip of paper.

"What's this?" Sakura asked.

"Put it between you index an middle fingers."

"Ok."

"Now just naturally make your chakra flow into it."

Sakura followed her instructions. She looked surprised when the paper suddenly crinkled inwards.

"Well, I didn't expect that." her grandmother muttered.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"I would have thought that you would be water or earth type." she commented.

"Really? So what does this mean?" Sakura asked.

"You're chakra is lightening type, rather rare, only wind chakra is less common. The reason you probably never knew is that you never learned any offensive ninjutsu."

"Yes that's true." Sakura admitted. "But why would I need to know this for genjutsu. Does your chakra type affect illusions?"

The old woman shook her head, "No. But before you learn any genjutsu I need you to learn a quick defensive ninjutsu. Such a jutsu is very important if you have to break the genjutsu to avoid attack.

Something that doesn't take a lot of thought." she rose and gestured for Sakura to follow, "Come, I'm going to show you what I used as my ninjutsu."

In the back of the house there was a small, fenced yard. There was a row of cans set on a table. "Watch closely." the grandmother ordered. She made the tiger sign, grabbed her wrist and aimed her

hand at one of the cans. A fiery red dart shot from her hand and flew past the can, through the fence and the sounds of a crash and a cat yowling were clearly heard.

"Oops!" she exclaimed, her face becoming that of a guilty child. "Umm, well, I'm out of practice, that was hoken no jutsu, fire dart. Your jutsu will be raiken, copy what I did, try to form the chakra in the

shape of a dart, then release. Oh, just use the ox hand sign and don't miss. This is a low level jutsu, so it shouldn't take too long to master."

"Ok," Sakura replied hesitantly. She made the sign, aimed and there was a bright flash and a banging sound as Sakura's hand was thrown back into her stomach. She coughed out painfully.

"Well, it seems you will have to figure out the form of lightening chakra, and I can't help you with that, I can only use fire and water style."

"Then what do I do?" Sakura asked, examining her slightly singed hand.

"You'll need to get help from someone else who is experienced with lightening chakra. Your instructor is Hatake, he would be a good person to ask. Come back to me when you master it." Haruno walked back into the house dismissively

"What?" Sakura exclaimed. "Is that it?"

"Yes." she replied simply.

"But couldn't I learn anything else? Can I try again?"

"Let me state it this way," her grandmother turned with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "I don't want to see you again until you have perfected raiken. So starting tomorrow, find your sensei, and begin your ninjutsu instruction."

"Bu-" Sakura protested.

"If you come back before than, I shall be very unpleasant!" her grandmother's voice burned with anger.

"Yes Grandmother!" Sakura shouted, bowing deeply. She winced when the door slammed shut. She's as bipolar as Tsunade! Well, I guess I have a bit of a temper too.

So without further ado, Sakura headed on home, reflecting on everything her previously estranged grandmother had said.

* * *

**So… Who likes Grandma? I wanted her to reflect Sakura, since she has the same name, I hope that won't get confusing. Also what did you guys think about my reason for the pink? Now, must get back to Bleach before certain people get impatient (^_^;) Oh and the next chapter is called Mizu for… reasons. :".**


	3. III Mizu

**All characters and settings belong to Kishimoto. Also I made a slight reference to one of TheEdgyBubble's stories… so I hope she doesn't mind ^_^**

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Chapter 3: Mizu (Water)

Sakura sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. She hated it when she had those dreams, the ones about that year when they were first team seven. It was always her watching Sasuke and Naruto. They really were like brothers, fighting, struggling, and arguing with one another. But every now and again, when no one was looking, they would crack a joke, smile, or help one another with something.

She scooted out of bed; such dreams always put her out of sorts in the morning. She looked out at the sunny day and then remembered. She had to find Kakashi. She changed into her long-sleeved mission outfit and determinedly put on her black gloves.

"There's no point in crying over the past." she ordered herself. "I have a duty to my village and to my friends; I'm not going to let that old hag beat me."

Walking downstairs she walked past the kitchen and called to her mother, "Don't make me breakfast. I'm doing an errand for grandmother today." she explained.

"Alright," her mother replied, "thanks for telling me, but be sure to eat something!"

"I will!" she assured her.

After leaving the house she contemplated her next move. Where would she look for Kakashi? _I could try his apartment, _she thought, _that would make sense. I know he doesn't have a phone. Besides, I have never actually gone to his apartment; it would be interesting to see at least the outside._Unfortunately, when she arrived at said apartment, she stared dumbly at the door. _I should knock. _She suggested, but her hand remained stationary. _But what if he's busy? I don't know what he's like when his personal time is intruded on. After all, men are weird creatures, I might get to meet crabby Kakashi, and that wouldn't be pleasant._However her grandmother's grinding voice shouted in her ear again. She set her jaw determinedly and knocked. She waited a little while and knocked again. _Oh great! He's not home! _She felt annoyed, but also a little relieved.

"So, where does Kakashi sensei go when not at his house?" she asked. "Let me see, last time I saw him he was looking at the bookstore. It's a long shot but I might as well try it."

* * *

Shikamaru was busy contemplating the logic behind smiling when heard someone sigh exasperatingly. He turned his head and noticed the Haruno girl leaning against the bookstore wall.

"I know it's a bother to ask," He began lazily, "but who are you looking for?"

She looked up at him, "Oh hi Shikamaru. I'm looking for Kakashi, would you happen to know where he is?"

"Oh, well at this time of day he is frequently exercising on the lawn by the bridge or he's assisting with the building project about five blocks from here." Shikamaru explained without hesitation.

"Really?" Sakura asked in disbelief. "I never realised that Kakashi was helpful like that."

"He's not as lazy as he looks." Shikamaru replied, sounding irritated.

"Ok, well, thanks." she replied, then just before she left she turned and asked, "By the way, how did you know that I was looking for someone."

"You never stop by a bookstore, you prefer the library. So you would have been looking for someone else there. Only two of your acquaintances typically buy books, Sai and Kakashi. Since Sai is on a mission, I knew you were looking for Kakashi from the beginning." Shikamaru finished plainly with no self praise, just an air of fact.

"Ok," Sakura replied, flabbergasted. _Also there's the matter of him knowing Kakahsi's routine. I doubt he even studied that, he just calculated by noticing and remembering the times when he saw him pass by. People like that frighten me._

As she approached the building site the sounds of hammers and saws filled the air. She looked around at all the workers, many of them were carpenters, but she recognized several ninjas trying their hands at a new art. Despite the cool weather many of the workers were shirtless. Sakura chopped it up to one of two things; either they were working hard, or just showing off. Judging by how one of the carpenters waved at her, she figured it was mostly the latter.

And that's when she noticed an ever familiar hat. "Inari!" she yelled.

The boy turned and smiled, lowered the small beam he had been carrying to run over to Sakura. "Nice to see you! But I have a question. Do you know where Kakashi is?"

"Yes I do, right there helping to raise that wall."

Sakura followed Inari's gaze and saw the silver haired ninja raising a wall with two other men. Once it was upright she walked over.

"Ah, hello Sakura," he said, "odd how we keep running into one another."

"Actually I came looking for you." she corrected. "Um, would it be alright if you could do a bit of a favour for me. I know this is out of nowhere, but could we do some training?"

"You have something specific in mind?"

"Yes, actually, I'm learning a ninjutsu and I would like your advice on chakra form and type."

"Really?" Kakashi asked, seeming rather surprised. "So I take it you are expanding you horizons. Well, since we are technically on leave, I could probably help out."

Sakura smiled brightly, "Thank you very much!" she bowed. "So let's get going."

"Wait," he said, "right now?"

"Of course!" Sakura replied. "You taught Naruto, I should be a breeze."

"Um, would tomorrow be better?" Kakashi said hesitantly, "I just started here and-"

"Don't keep your little lady waiting Hatake!" Izumo yelled cheekily.

"Yeah!" Genma joined in the teasing, "You shouldn't let her get desperate and nee-" his voice cut off suddenly and he shuffled back from the legendary jounin's glare and returned to what he had been doing.

Sakura had been clenching her fist and staring at the ground in irritated embarrassment. She looked up wondering why Genma had cut off. She had missed Kakashi's reaction completely.

"Well that settles it," Kakashi said in his normal dull manner, "let's get going."

"Great!" she exclaimed, forgetting her awkwardness.

As they walked down the street Kakashi pulled out a book as he interrogated his former pupil turned pupil again. "So, why the sudden interest in ninjutsu?"

Sakura sighed heavily. "Yesterday I met with my grandmother. She wants to train me in a Haruno clan jutsu, but before she can, she wants me to learn how to use my chakra type. She has fire style and I don't."

"So which type are you?" Kakashi asked as he turned a page.

"Lightning." she replied.

Kakashi stopped and looked at her in surprise. "Lightning?" he asked.

"Yes." she replied.

"That's very, uncommon. I figured you for an earth type."

Her face twitched, "Are you implying that I'm common?"

"You are lightening style, so obviously not." he assured her, crinkling his visible eye.

She huffed angrily. "All you ever do is read those books by that perver-" it was then that she noticed something she had felt was off the whole time. "Wait, what book is that?"

"Huh?" he asked. "Oh, it's by Kaoru Suzuki."

"That's Ino's favourite author." Sakura said in shock. "My next question is why are you reading some cutsy romantic comedy?"

"Seems to be right up my alley." Kakashi said brushing her off.

"They're written for adolescent girls." Sakura replied dryly.

"So?"

"It's creepy, very creepy." she explained, shuddering. "I can imagine Miss Suzuki's face if you ever went to a signing, she would freak. All that is in those books is emotional porn with loads of breathless kissing, promises of undying love, and recycled plots."

"Actually the writing is quite good." Kakashi said. "You should read it."

"I have," she replied wearily, "I made the mistake of trying to have something in common with Ino. In fact it was the volume you are reading now, the part where the "heartthrob" Gendou makes out with Natsume in the hot spring and they dunked under the water to see how long they could stay under… it was disgusting. The image is burned in my mind!" she stopped talking when she noticed Kakashi frantically flipping the pages. His eye widened, obviously having arrived at the said passage.

"Pervert!" Sakura exclaimed. "Give me that!" She tried to grab the offending book but Kakashi nimbly avoided her. "You know you're just going to get weird day dreams and someday you're going to accidentally act on one and get in tonnes of trouble."

"Uh, Sakura," Kakashi said, "I think you need to watch your volume, you're gathering a crowd."

Her hand immediately folded innocently behind her back and she smiled a golden smile to the onlookers as she spoke out of the side of her mouth, "Let's just jump there, ok?"

"Sure." Kakashi replied.

With that they both leapt up to the nearest roof and proceeded to the central park and stood by the bank of New Lake.

When they both landed Kakashi said, "You know Sakura; if you were a little less uptight you would embarrass yourself so often."

"If you weren't so relaxed you wouldn't be an embarrassment." she shot back then sighed, "Alright, truce? I'm sorry for being such a "Miss Priss"."

He smiled, "What can you do thus far?" he asked, getting to the point.

Sakura bit her lip and made the signs, then held her hand forward. She winced awaiting the pain. There was a white flash and her hand jumped back. "Ow!" she cried, shaking her numb hand.

"Huh" Kakashi mused. "You don't know what lightening chakra looks like. You already use it with your healing technique, and I can tell right now what your secondary style is."

"Huh? How?"

He pointed at his revealed sharingan, "I saw how you formed the chakra, you think like you are water style, even though your natural one is lightening. The way you think and apply chakra is frequently a sign of what your second style would be. In your case you have the capability of learning water style, but before you can do that, you have to learn to think like and use lightning. It's quite obvious."

"Are you done boasting?" Sakura asked. He was only teaching, but it was the ridiculously superior tone that got on her nerves.

"No," Kakashi replied evenly, "How could I be done? I wasn't boasting, just pointing out your incapability."

Sakura smiled determinedly, swallowing her irritation. _If I'm going to be instructed, I need to put aside my pride. Tsunade has really rubbed off on me. _"Then how do I think, sensei?" she asked humbly.

Kakashi thought a moment before replying. "Recognise, that unlike the other forms, lightning is chaos. It's pent up energy, restless for release, always seeking for a way to the ground, or some other place for it to scatter." he took a step toward her, closing the space between them to only a step wide. "Now, cup your hand and move it to about the level of your heart in front of you."

Sakura raised her right hand, following his instructions.

"Now," he continued, "the cupped hand is important. Because lightening chakra wants to escape, you need to pull more than push to contain it and not waste the jutsu. So, as soon as you start to move the chakra into your hand, pull back with all your might to keep it contained. Start moving the chakra into your hand now."

Her hand glowed green, she shook her head discouraged.

Kakashi nodded and explained, "Stop thinking about healing, make it wild, and destructive, constantly vibrating."

Suddenly the chakra turned a bright blue and dissipated. Sakura's head fell forward. "It's just so different!" she muttered in frustration.

"Relax, we just started. I'll try a trick my teacher did." he replied. He moved one of his hand and rested the fingers against the backs of hers. "Now, you put out the chakra and pull it back. I'll get you started and change the style."

"O…K…" Sakura replied. It felt weird having his fingers on hers, however she hurriedly brushed the feeling aside and started to focus chakra into her palm. She felt a stinging sensation in her fingers and she watched as the chakra changed in her hand. A spark leapt from her thumb to her middle finger, making her wince in pain but she kept focus.

Kakashi guided her further, "You need to force the energy away from the edge. Form it into a dilating egg shape above you palm."

Before Sakura's eyes a marble sized, sparking body appeared in her hand, but with it the pain increase. "It hurts." she said, biting her lip.

"Yes, lightening and fire style are the two forms that cause physical pain, however lightening is far worse. You need to learn to simultaneously insulate your body with chakra. But for now," he said, placing his other hand on her wrist, "I'll do that for you."

Thankfully the pain subsided, though it was still there. "Is this why it takes so much chakra to use this style?" Sakura asked. "Between the insulation, the forming and the containment it must be a lot to think about."

"If you think about it," Kakashi said, removing the hand holding her fingers, "It's not too much different from your healing jutsu, which also has all those elements but takes much more thought. Healing ninjutsu is one of the most controlled forms and you have the best chakra control I've ever observed. Not even I can use more than the most basic form of healing technique and I have tried to learn it with the sharingan."

"So you think I might be able to understand lightening style without too much trouble?"

"What do you call what you are doing now?" he asked.

She looked down at her hand in surprise. There was her little marble of lightening, still pulsing and raging in her hand. She smiled, showing her teeth. "Wow!" she exclaimed, "I can do it!"

Kakashi nodded happily, but his eyes widened in surprise when the ball of lightening shot of tiny bolts every which way, causing Sakura to jump back in surprise, right off the bank into the lake.

Sakura gasped at the cold water against her stomach and legs. "Cold!" she exclaimed she moved to climb back up the bank.

Kakashi extended his hand and she took it. Unfortunately, the bank crumbled under his feet and he too ended up knee deep in the water. Though his eyes looked as dull as usual, behind his mask his face was stuck in a surprised expression. The very next sound was the sprinkling of rain drops.

Sakura slumped forward dejectedly and climbed up to stand on the water's surface, but her frazzled chakra from her lightening attempts didn't cooperate, and she found herself falling face first to the water. She arms flailed and grabbed the only thing she could, the back of the neck of Kakashi's jounin jacket. Kakashi was forced to fall back in to the frigid water or have his windpipe crushed.

A few moments later, the two of them we back on the bank, soaked and muddy and being ruthlessly pattered on by the rain. Their clothing was clinging to them and letting heat escape their bodies.

"We need to get dry." Kakashi said, pointing out the obvious.

"Know anyplace with some towels?" Sakura asked.

"We could buy some in town, but my place is closer, about a half block away."

"That'll work." Sakura agreed, knowing they were going to get hypothermia in the cool February weather.

Within a few moments they were in Kakashi's apartment and the heat vents were running full blast. Kakashi went into the bathroom and brought out three towels. "Here," he said, "use these."

"Don't you need one?" Sakura asked.

"I can just change." he replied.

Sakura worked quickly drying her hair and squeezing her clothing. Finally she wrapped herself up in the beach towel and sat on the sofa in front of one of the heat vents.

Kakashi re-emerged from his bedroom wearing an almost identical set of clothing, minus the jacket.

"I'm sorry." Sakura said.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, "It's not like we wouldn't have gotten wet from the rain the way it is pouring out there."

"Yeah, but still, we could have been a little less wet." Sakura replied.

"Look on the bright side." Kakashi replied. "You got to be one of the lucky women to stop by my pad."

Sakura twitched in anger. "Pervert," she scolded. "As if you have ever had a girlfriend. Otherwise, why else would you read those books?"

He smiled cheekily and replied, "They have some great tips for when I do get a girlfrien-"

"Okay!" Sakura exclaimed standing up. "I think I'm dry enough." she said walking towards the door, not wanted to hear anymore of her captain's perverted thoughts.

Kakashi smiled in amusement and followed her.

"Why are you coming with me?" Sakura asked.

"I have to return to the building project, your house is on the way." He explained casually.

The two hurried down the street until they arrived in front of Sakura's home.

"Kakashi,"

"Yes?"

"When I used the lightening style, I felt different." she said thoughtfully. "I was wild and my thoughts were all over the place. It really was chaotic, and kind of frightening, as if I had less control over what I was going to do."

Kakashi nodded. "When you use different styles, you do get a different set of emotions running through you. Eventually you will learn to control them. However, I think you are looking too narrowly at what lightening is. Raise up your palm." he ordered.

She did and then to her surprise he met her palm with his. She felt chakra invading her hand from him.

"You see," he said. "this is lightening too. Of the five elements, lightening is the one closest to life. Furthermore, try to pull your hand away."

Sakura tried but discovered that her had was solidly stuck to his. _Interesting object lesson, _she thought. _but this is getting kind of awkward._

"Now push back with your own lightening." he ordered.

A new sensation passed through her body. First, chaos as their lightening fought one another. But then Kakashi adjusted his to match hers. Now she could feel it, a constant cycle completing a circle. Electricity travelling between them in a constant, orderly style.

"Get it? Lightening can be gentle too. You could use this style especially in medicine." Kakashi explained. "By the way, what type of ninjutsu were you planning on learning?"

"Umm," Sakura said, trying and failing to pull her hand from his. "Just a really basic one, raiken, to start out."

"Oh, that one is simple," he nodded. "and useful in a pinch, from what you learned today you could probably figure that one out in a couple days by yourself. It's all about releasing at the right time and controlling it."

Sakura looked up at his visible eye, "Speaking of release, how about my hand?" she asked. The energy abruptly stopped and her hand flung back from his. "Thanks, for everything." she said at last, as she walked over to her door.

"See you around." he waved. As he left her felt a little pang of guilt. Perhaps he should of chosen a better way to teach that last lesson. He actually felt a little uncomfortable with it in retrospect, though not enough for him to actually let go. _She probably is just going to chop it up to me being a dirty old man. _He sighed remorsefully.

Sakura walked into her house, looking at her hand. It felt so different now, as if any moment it would erupt into a chidori. _Don't get ahead of yourself, _she thought, _but at least I know I can do this._"Sakura?" her mother spoke up.

"Yes mom?" she replied turning to her.

"What were you and Mr. Hatake talking about for so long."

"Uh," Sakura replied hesitantly, "just ninjutsu."

"You had to hold hands?" her mother said in slight disapproval.

"Oh mother!" Sakura rolled her eyes. "Actually yes, we did, it was about chakra points and other stuff."

"Oh I see, my bad." she laughed. "It just looked very odd. You know that if Mrs. Kimura next door saw that she would begin a whole gossip train, the nosy hag." Mrs. Haruno covered her mouth. "D-don't tell anyone I said that!"

Sakura put a finger to her lips. "I'll keep a secret if you do. Now," she began with a mischievous grin. "I have to get changed, I couldn't get completely dried off at Kakashi's place." With that she ran up the stares, laughing as her mother lectured her on decency.

Once Sakura closed the door to her room Mrs. Haruno laughed and stopped her fake lecture. "Mama sure has put some motivation into that girl." the mother observed.

* * *

**And so ends chapter 3! Tell me what y'all think? I greatly enjoyed writing this one. Btw, does anyone think the cast is acting out of character? I'm not entirely sure that I'm portraying them right, so opinions and suggestions are welcome!**

**I honestly have no idea what I am going to title the next chapter but I will be keeping with the one Japanese word theme though. Sadly, it might actually be a while before I update this again, I have yet to come up with plot for the next chapter. I have ideas for many chapters after that, but not the next one. (-_-') So, just hope that inspiration with smack me in the noggin soon!**


	4. IV Tsukai

Chapter 4: Tsukai (Mission)

**Characters and setting belong to Kishimoto-sensei.**

**Thank you Starkiss666 and quarterdark for keeping up with this story! I hope this will be fun for you two!**

Tsunade was, for once, doing paperwork. However she would have personally preferred going out drinking… but alas, there was work to do, and Shizune had finally gotten some guts and threatened to sedate her if she tried anything. Even when she just arrived back from the Gokage Summit there was paperwork.

Two short taps were heard from the door. "Come in." She beckoned.

Kakashi walked in nervously. "Kakashi Hatake reporting,"

"You're late." she replied flatly, returning to her paperwork. Kakashi noticed that her eyebrow was twitching, likely as she was holding back from giving a fiery lecture.

Shizune gave him a why-did-you-have-to-be-late-and-make-her-_more_-irritated look.

The silver haired ninja shrugged apologetically.

Finally, after a couple drinks of Shizune's tonic, Tsunade addressed the jounin curtly. "As you and the other jounin have heard, we are gathering up to move out to join in joint army in the Land of Lightning. I'm going to make this announcement public later today. The reason that I called you here is that you will be going off on a side trip. I need some very rare medical supplies from The Land of Hot Springs. You're job is to escort the two medics there and back with the supplies and also proof that the village will continue to provide us with their products.

"And" she added with a smile, "there is the little bonus that I'm expecting it to take at least three days. So if you are quick, you could get a full day of vacation."

"Alright, I'll assemble a team." Kakashi nodded, a little too eagerly. It was a little known fact, but the copy ninja did have a weakness for onsens, and it had been far too long since he had last gone.

"No need, I've already assigned Raido, Ino, and Sakura." Tsunade responded. "The details of the mission and any potentially valuable material are on this scroll."

Kakashi accepted it and bowed. "Thank you Hokage-sama."

"Ok, run along," she waved.

After the man left Shizune asked nervously, "Are you sure that was a good idea? It's not like we have a lot of available time for play."

Tsunade laughed, "Then why do you think I assigned the job long before I actually needed the supplies, it could take them seven days and it wouldn't matter. Besides, those four deserve a bit of relaxation."

Shizune nodded, but inside she was fuming, _So they deserve a vacation and I don't?_

Sakura was sitting in front of her mirror. She did not like how boring her hair looked. _Should I grow it out long again? _She asked herself. _Or maybe I could pin it up somehow?_

Pulling out some pins she first tried pulling a side of her hair back. She tried various other styles, until she finally sighed, choosing a basic ponytail. She opened up her drawer for her plain black band but paused.

_I forgot about that one! _She pulled out a silky green ribbon. Her dad had given it to her as an apology for breaking… something, she could not remember. But she did learn how potent a few tears could be on a man.

"Boy I was terrible." she laughed. After tying up her hair she looked in the mirror and made a poses. The ribbon actually looked really nice. When she started to look at the rest her face, figuring how she could make herself look better she suddenly stood up and laughed. "Why am I primping? I haven't done that in ages!" She looked in the mirror. "I look quite pretty enough to practice raiken. It's not like the crows care that much."

Music was pounding in Ino's ears as she stood lay in her bed watching the clock. She did not have man the shop for thirty minutes. So in the meantime she put on an upbeat song, hopped from her bed and started her morning exercises as she looked at people walk by her house below. It was then she noticed Sakura wandering aimlessly down the street.

Ino smiled and ran onto her balcony, "Hey, Forehead, what are you doing today."

"Hm?" Sakura looked up to see her friend. "Hey Ino-Pig, put some clothes on!"

Ino rolled her eyes as she looked down at her pyjamas. "Really, Sakura, when did you become such a prude, it's not like I'm showing anything. Hey, I'll be right down, wait right there!"

Sakura sighed and began tapping her foot. _Really, that girl has no reservations! Doesn't she know that boys get weird ideas when they see a girl dressed like that? Besides, it's embarrassing because… well it is!_

Ino ran out, properly attired, "Hey Sakura, what are you doing here?"

"Actually I was heading to the training grounds by the lake."

"Oh," Ino stood back, "training? Why?"

"The fact you have to ask 'why' explains why I'm a better medic than you." Sakura jibed

Ino rolled her eyes, "I didn't mean it that way. What do you want to train?"

Sakura thought a moment about whether to tell the loudmouthed blonde, but after realising that there wasn't anything the girl could feasibly mock, she answered. "I'm learning a ninjutsu called Raiken."

"Really?" Ino exclaimed. "That is so cool! You totally have to show me. So you are a lightening type?"

"Um, well yeah."

"That's odd." Ino muttered.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Sakura cried.

"Well," Ino put on a very sincere face. "It's not like you have right aura, you're more of a plain, earthy type of girl. Not much to you."

"What!" Sakura shouted.

"Calm down, it's just that lightening type people are typically more… edgy, like really apart from everyone. You're too sociable and, normal. Though at times you are a Godzilla; so I could see you being fire type."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched dangerously. "You know Ino; you're probably wind type then."

"Huh?" Ino stepped back in shock. "How did you know?"

Sakura laughed evilly before answering darkly. "Because you're mental faculties are practically on par with those of a certain team-mate of mine."

This time it was Ino's turn to be irritated, though she was considerably more vocal, especially as she expressed her utter disgust at being considered in the same category as that idiot Naruto. But Sakura was surprised when Ino's voice cut out. She looked over at her friend and saw that her face had become very thoughtful.

"What are you thinking about?" Sakura asked cautiously.

Ino turned a moment then looked back toward the lake they were approaching. "Oh, um, well I was just thinking how Naruto has grown up. We really do owe our lives to him. And… Well, don't you think that he's gotten taller and more handsome? He's really tough, cute, still stupid, but in an endearing way. I suppose in retrospect, you complemented me."

Sakura looked at her black boots and spoke quietly, "Huh, I really can never insult you, Ino-pig." _She's right. Naruto is a warrior now. He's saved the village single-handedly, how can I beat that? I can at least hope to surprise him._

"So here we are Sakura, going to show me that jutsu?" Ino asked.

Sakura sighed and wove the signs. She focused as she restrained the wild chakra in her hands. Bright white sparks gathered into a pulsating, spiky mass above her cupped palm. Within moments Sakura felt it, she was loosing control. "Oh dear," she said just as the lightening escaped out of her hand and shot outwards over the lake. Further down the shore they saw a limb catch fire and the water carried back the sounds of a panicking work crew trying to put it out.

"Drats!" Sakura whined. "I can't aim it all."

"But that was really cool. Once you can figure out how to use it it'll be better, but wasn't it kind of pretty?" Ino asked.

Sakura smiled. "I guess."

"I can help with chakra form though." Ino offered. "Asuma taught me a lot, and just recently, I learned how to use one of his techniques."

"Really?"

Ino raised her hand. It glowed green with normal healing chakra then the green glow grew brighter and extended beyond her hand, making a high pitched hissing sound. "This is a chakra blade." She ran towards one of the log targets, and in one slash it was sliced in two.

Sakura's jaw dropped. "You used your medic style to do that!"

"Yep," Ino replied smugly. "It was dreadfully hard to learn, but I'm glad that I did. I was hoping to be able to smash things like you, but I couldn't figure out how. Besides, with a blade, I don't have to worry about chipping my nails." She smiled blissfully.

Though she was tempted to roll her eyes, Sakura honestly was impressed. Now that she thought about it, lightning chakra would me much harder to form into a blade than air chakra would. Why did lightning have to be so inconvenient?

"Hey, Shizune!" Ino yelled as the black haired jounin came to a halt from a run. "What's going on?"

After a few moments of panting Shizune spoke, "Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka,"

The two girls stood at attention hearing their names spoken formally.

Shizune continued, "You have been given a mission from Lady Tsunade to go to the Land of Hot Springs and acquire some important herbs and concoctions."

Ino smiled brightly, "Land of Hot Springs? Really? How long does she plan the mission to take?"

"Three days, starting from the point in which you leave the main caravan heading to the Hidden Cloud. So if things go as planned you should get a full day's break." Shizune said, adding a little too much distaste into her voice as she said the last sentence.

"So it's really happening," Sakura muttered. "The unified ninja army,"

Shizune nodded solemnly.

"Things must be pretty bad then." Sakura surmised gloomily.

"Yes, it is bad," Ino ranted energetically. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't look forward to some fun before the storm!"

Sakura smiled in agreement.

"Oh, one last thing," Shizune added, "You are to join up with Kakashi and Raido, who will be acting as your bodyguards, at the North Gate. You are to stick together as you travel with the caravan and assist with the moving of goods. And bring casual clothes, it would be advantageous if people couldn't recognise you and ninja."

"Yes madam." Sakura and Ino saluted.

"Good, you two should probably get packing." Shizune suggested, turning around and muttering darkly about her lack of good treatment.

"Well, want to spar, or should we go pack?" the blonde asked.

"We should probably pack and get rested, tomorrow is going to be a long day." Sakura answered.

"Always sensible," Ino muttered, "Ok, see you tomorrow!"

As Sakura headed her own way, she considered stopping by her grandmother's house, but then she remembered the dangerous look in the old woman's eyes when she told her, 'Don't dare come back until you master that ninjutsu!'

"I should probably wait. However, I won't be able to see her again until after the war." Sakura was faced with a dilemma. She really wanted to learn the genjutsu, but her grandmother terrified her. _I'm going to see her._ Sakura made up her mind. _I've defied must scarier people before; this grandmother I barely know should be nothing in comparison._

And so, Sakura turned the opposite direction from her house.

The orange light of the setting sun shone into Kakashi's small bedroom. He had just finished packing his weapons and necessities and now he was considering what personal items he should bring. He picked up one of Jiraiya's books, Icha Icha Violence. However just as he started to slip it into his pack he hesitated.

_I probably shouldn't, Sakura would complain that I was a pervert. _He thought, and then wondered why he should care. _Nah, there's no harm in having a little fun. _Again he made to put the book into his pack, but something stopped him. _However, it would be less than pleasant at the onsen afterwards if she was mad. Just this once I could bring something… else. I did get that historical novel, it's still a romance, but at least she would think I was a bit of an intellectual rather than just a lecherous fiend._

So, without further debate, he picked up the milder piece of fiction, though he was still confused why he should care. _Perhaps now that she's older I'm realising she is more of a co-worker, not just some kid whose opinion isn't as important. That's probably it… and I'm getting o-…ol… more mature._

Once he finished packing he grabbed the Icha Icha book and lay down on his couch. _She can't complain if I read it here though!_

Outdoors the village was in a frantic bustle as the ninja prepared for their departure, and all over there were parties, tearful goodbyes, hugs that went on longer than was necessary, no one knowing if it would be the last time they would see one another again.

**Well day 4 is done. If you are wondering what went down with Sakura's meet-up with her grandma, that'll be covered later. Look forward to the next chapter when everyone is setting out. I want to put a little more focus on Kakashi… but I can't seem to give him enough "screen time". I always have been better at writing about girls (that's what I get for living with sisters… tonnes of them).**

**I was really planning on having Kiba pop in… but alas he didn't. ;_;**


	5. V Sayonara

**Happy Valentines Day! Let this be my valentine to you all!**

Chapter 5: Sayonara (December 29th)

The chill early morning air was perfect for stretches. It seemed to relax the muscles, offering Sakura a feeling of pleasant euphoria. Getting back up from her crabwalk position, she grabbed her outdoor clothes from her closet and hurried to get a shower. Unfortunately she heard faint singing coming from the bathroom.

"Rats," she sighed. She had temporarily forgotten that they were sharing the home. Mrs. Akimichi took notoriously long showers, and she certainly wasn't going to be rude and ask her to hurry.

_Besides, I took a shower last night. However, one last one, just before leaving, would have been really nice._

"Might as well just get changed." she muttered. She paused, when she noticed what song the woman was singing though. It was a song full of goodbyes, one about a mother awaiting the return of her husband and son.

_Chouji and Mr. Akimichi must have already left. _Sakura noted. She didn't feel regret about missing out on the last luxury. That woman needed the time far more than she did.

She slid into her ninja gear and packed her knee-length black skirt and a black blouse with white sleeves that struck her as sharp, and something civilian-ish, civilianistic, civilian-like? _Well it looks nice but inconspicuous; I'll leave it at that._

_I think that's all…_ she examined the room, and then noticed the picture, the one with team seven at its beginning. She picked it up. _We should get a new one made. After all, we have Sai and Yamato now._ She was about to put it into her pack, when she thought better of it. _It would be better that it wait here for me, after all, I plan on coming back._

She hefted her pack over her shoulder and walked out, making one last look at the picture. "See you soon."

Downstairs she was met by her mother in front of the door.

"Is something wrong mom?"

"No," she said, embracing her daughter.

Sakura dropped her pack and hugged her mom back. Her mother's back began to shake from suppressed sobs. Sakura bit her lip; her mother had never been so affected by her departure before.

"Um mom?"

"Sayonara." her mother whispered, releasing her daughter.

"Oh, sayonara," Sakura replied.

Her mother's eyes were full of unwept tears but she smiled nonetheless at her daughter. "Please, stay out of harm's way."

"I…" Sakura didn't know what to say, but she figured no amount of lying or buttering up the situation would help her mother. "I am going to be helping those who have been injured, that is my battle, to send home many who would not have otherwise."

"I know dear, and I will be praying for your return." her mother's smile broadened in pride for her daughter. "Now shoo, you have to help the caravan."

"Ok!" Sakura laughed, dashing out the door.

"Oh, one last thing," her mother yelled. "We just drew the lottery; our family is going to have our house built next! You will have a home when you come back!"

"Alright! I look forward to it!" Sakura called back then ran down the road.

Once she was out of sight of the house she slowed down to a walk. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly as she looked at the scenery around her of her hometown. She wanted to remember every detail, just so whenever she needed she could feel like she was home again.

It would be a while before she was needed at the gate, so she pulled out a small scroll from her pack. Her grandmother, after giving her a short talking to, had given it to her. It was further training instructions for using the family genjutsu. She ran her hands over the first lines which read 'Kekkei Genkai of the Haruno Clan…' After that many words were missing with long gaps between scripts. She remembered her grandmother's lecture.

"_This is an example of Ink Jutsu, it will reveal more as you figure out more about the kekkei genkai, also it will erase parts you have mastered. It is a way to protect these secrets. Even though the genjutsu contained within is only usable by the two of us, it would be unfortunate if others knew the effects. Genjutsu hinges on leaving the enemy in ignorance. So, just read the inked sections, and try to understand them. And most importantly, tell no one of what you learn._

"_Oh, and one last thing,"_

"_What Haruno?" Sakura asked._

"_Learn Raiken!"_

Sakura winced at the memory of the door slamming in her face. _Boy she is scary._

Looking down at the scroll, she found a fully black paragraph and started reading it, over and over.

Kakashi leaned against the outer wall of the village, by the north gate which was currently a bustle of carts moving out. He had helped with the loading already and there wasn't much else for him to do but wait.

_Why am I the one waiting? _He asked himself irritatingly as he flipped through another page of the dreadfully clean historical fiction. _Aren't I usually the one keeping other people waiting?_

No exact time had been assigned for the meeting, but perhaps he had made a false assumption that he was not the only one rearing to go on this mission.

"Sigh," he began, "The onsen is in sight…"

"Hello Hatake!" Raido exclaimed waving as he walked up. The rippling scar the anchored at his nose and fanned out over his left cheek wrinkled upwards with his sideways grin.

"Hello," Kakashi greeted, "taking care of last minute stuff?"

"Ah, well, yeah. Saying goodbye to my girlfriend,"

Kakashi laughed a little then corrected him, "You mean your ex. She left you months ago."

"Well, er," Raido blushed and rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I, I need someone to say goodbye to."

"Yeah, well that someone's boyfriend is bound to not be too thrilled about that." Kakashi added.

Raido's eyes looked down to the left, telling Kakashi that the scarred ninja had already found that out.

"Ok, spit it out, how did he try to kill you?"

"He's got some nasty earth jutsu…" Raido muttered. "Anyway, are you looking forward to this trip or what, I mean, just two guys getting to go on an onsen getaway and the only catch is a ridiculously easy mission!"

"So," Kakashi asked curiously, "You don't know?"

"About what?"

"We're taking two medic kunoichi's, we have to watch after them, it's actually more of their mission than ours."

"Really?" Raido's face fell, "We have to baby-sit?"

"Relax," Kakashi chuckled. "They are both very capable chuunin."

"Well, I suppose that's ok," Raido replied, then winked, "At least now we get to have a couple ladies along though eh? Girl's just love the hot springs, and think of the opportunities if you catch my drift." Then he coughed and spoke seriously, "I'm joking of course we're all mature ninja, right? We'll keep things professional."

"Huh, you better, because the two ladies aren't yet seventeen and one of them is my former student." Kakashi casually advised, with a barely noticeable hint of hostility.

"Oh," was all that could escape Raido's quivering mouth.

Ino sprinted up on them, "Good morning! Mr. Hatake," she stopped in front of the two men, then turned to Raido, "and… er… Rengo?"

"It's Raido!" he exclaimed, "Remember, the guy who rescued you all from Hidan and Kakuzu?"

"Um, if I remember right, Aoba was there too." Ino said.

"And you can remember his name?"

"He did most of the work. Besides, his name is noble and memorable."

"Raido is too! Way of Lightning, that's noble!"

"But Rengo is better, Crane Defender."

"If I'm the defender than I guess that makes you the crane!"

"Shut up, jerk!"

"Okay you two…" Kakashi said, flipping a page in his book. "This hostility so early in the mission is not a good sign."

The two held their silence, though Ino pointedly walked over and stood close to Kakashi, as if to tell Raido that he was on the outside. Raido, meanwhile, sat on a crate and grumbled.

Kakashi attempted to continue his reading, but the atmosphere about him had changed towards the unpleasant. He was well experienced in team chemistry, and he had thought over how well this combination would work together. He really figured that Raido and Ino would get along swell so if they needed to split the team it could be Raido/Ino and himself with Sakura. But with these recent developments it looked like he was going to have to team up with Ino… and he really didn't want that, she was too talkative and he was already accustomed to any of Sakura's eccentricities. _Why couldn't life be simpler?_ He prayed inwardly.

Just as the prospects of the trip seemed at their dimmest, he heard the familiar footfalls of a pink haired kunoichi. He looked up and saw Sakura walking slowly towards them. She was completely absorbed in reading a small scroll.

_Why can't I understand this? It's as if it's written in gibberish. I've been thinking about what I've been reading, but it just makes no sense. Is it in code? _She absolutely did not get what she was reading. The scroll was all written in Hiragana and many of the words seemed entirely made up. And the more she read it, the more possible sentences came to mind.

"Hey, Sakura!" Ino yelled."

Her concentration was broken, much to Kakashi's chagrin. He had thought he looked quite amusing with her frozen in concentration. It filled him with undeserved pride as her teacher, thinking how she had grown, and was now trying her best to learn… something. Not to mention she looked cu…"

"Oh hi Ino," Sakura replied.

"So, isn't it funny, Sakura, how Kakashi sensei arrived early for once. It makes you think he's excited about this trip."

Sakura laughed, "Him? No, he just was bored most likely, I mean Kakashi sensei and punctuality don't naturally exist. You know we had to wait five hours one time and…" Sakura suddenly a pain of guilt, bowed quickly to Kakashi, "Sorry, I was being rude. I hope you aren't irritated."

"No, I could tell you were joking." Kakashi said, waving her off and turning another page.

_He's irritated… _Sakura mused.

"Time to get going, we have a few days journey ahead of us." Kakashi ordered.

"Yes sir," they all replied. Sakura made sure to add an extra dose of respect to her salute to make up for being to chummy.

The four joined up with the caravan, helping out with as many various jobs as they could on the rut-filled northern road. By the end of the long day, Raido started a campfire and they gathered around it.

Sakura assisted the scarred jounin with making dinner while Kakashi and Ino both sat back and discussed books… That notion creeped Sakura out slightly. Her friend and her teacher were reading the same types of books now… she prayed that Kakashi would not get Ino into _his_ books.

"So sir, do you think this is done?" she asked, tipping the contents of the pot for Raido to see.

He took a whiff, "It smells done, and it should be hot enough. By the way, you can call me Raido."

Kakashi stiffened momentarily and gave a one-eyed glare at the jounin.

Sakura smiled, "Alright, I'll try to remember."

Kakashi returned to his discussion with Ino, hiding his irritation. He knew what Raido was up to. He'd been dumped, and now he was getting familiar with a vulnerable and naïve girl. He was going to watch him like a hawk.

"Something wrong sensei?"

He looked up to see Sakura offering him a bowl of the stew. "Uh, no Sakura, and you don't need to…" _add the 'sensei' _was what he was going to say, but he decided against it last moment. "…to serve me. It's just a campout."

She smiled and briefly chuckled, then said, "I know, but I wanted to, and you looked tired."

"Well, thanks." he said, turning his attention to his bowl. However before he could get far, Ino started up they previous conversation.

"So, which author to do you prefer, Moritaka or Takagi?" she asked.

"Umm, Moritaka I suppose, I haven't read anything by Takagi yet?"

"Oh, well don't you love Moritaka's comedy? I think it's just hilarious."

He squinted at the blonde who was sitting a little to close to him. Her conversation seemed far too forced, he glanced over at Raido, who had just made Sakura laugh from one of his jokes… Raido hardly ever told jokes. It was then he noticed something else, they were both sitting at the far side of Sakura and himself, leaving the team seven members sandwiched in the middle along with a large gap. Furthermore, Ino and Raido twice in the last two minutes avoided looking the other's direction.

That's when it clicked; _they still haven't gotten over their insults that morning! Moreover, this atmosphere seems more hostile then before, which means more harsh words must have been exchanged during the day. Wonderful…_ Kakashi was less then pleased, it meant that Ino would be clinging to him, and Sakura, who was apparently the only other team-member with any maturity, would have Raido latched up next to her the whole trip. That thought left a sour feeling in his gut as he sent one more glare Raido's direction.

"Alright!" Kakashi ordered, "We need to retire for the night. After all, we have a long way to go tomorrow and we will be crossing out of the Land of Fire. So it's best to rest up."

"Ok sensei!" Sakura replied, grabbing her pack.

Raido was about to place his pack down next to Sakura's when a bed roll landed in front of him. He looked up to where it had been tossed from and saw Kakashi walk over, and then unrolled his sleeping bag and lay down.

The jounin was perplexed but moved to lay his pack on the other side of Sakura but found that Ino was already lying down there.

The blonde shot a glare up at him, which he returned. Then he decided to lay his pack on the other side of Kakashi, feeling like an outsider.

Before he fell asleep, Raido felt a one-eyed glare and looked behind him, but Kakashi was all too innocently tucked, eye closed, and breathing evenly. Raido fell asleep, wondering what he had done to end up in such an awkward situation.

**And so the journey begins at last. I hope the plot doesn't seem to be moving too slowly. Raido and Ino's mutual distaste promises to be quite entertaining. And lastly, Sakura seems to be entirely oblivious of anything going through the minds of her comrades. Please review!**

**Look out for the next release, Chapter 6, Samurai, coming either later this month or in early March.**

**And thank you very much for your reading, this story now has over 1000 views thanks to y'all!**


	6. VI Samurai

**Disclaimer, I have no rights to characters or setting. If I did Hinata's confession would have been remembered by that imbecile!**

Chapter 6, Samurai

Sakura carefully jogged carrying a box she had been given by one of the medics. It was full of empty glass vials that had been placed in the wrong cart at the back of the caravan when it belonged over halfway to the front. Her arms were aching from having to hold such a constant weight. She wanted to get the job done faster, but she didn't dare use chakra enhanced running, lest the vials get damaged.

Since the caravan had crossed the Konoha border it had become considerably larger. On this one errand she had identified at least four different headbands, one of them being from the supposedly collapsed sound village. It was weird, this war was so terrible, yet at the same time it made nations that hated one another work together. But it was not just that. The mood was oddly joyous; people seemed, at the moment, sociable with their new comrades, truly an ironic situation.

Passing up another of the carts she just passed it up when she heard muffled laughing. She looked over just in time to have an armoured back bump into her knocking her over sideways.

_Crap! I can't stop myself, _she thought as she fell over, trying to use her body as a shield for her delicate cargo. But instead of making contact with the muddy road she fell into what felt like a hard futon, two gauntlet wielding hands wrapped around her waist to support her.

She looked up to get an upside down view at her saviour. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the concealed face of a very tall, armoured man. _Iron village Samurai!_

The man seemed to casually ignore the fact that there was a kunoichi in his arms as he yelled at two other, similarly attired warriors. "Hey idiots, watch where you rough house. He angled his concealed face down at Sakura, who hadn't been able to move from her leaning position because of his firm grasp on her waist.

"Sorry about that Miss," he said. From the sound of his voice, Sakura could tell he was smiling behind the all encompassing helmet.

"No problem," she replied, as he returned her to an upright position. "And thank you, I would have been in a lot of trouble if I broke these."

"I'm glad to keep a young lady out of trouble for sure!" he replied cheerily. Then he looked at the other two, "Now, idiots, give her a proper apology."

"Yes captain!" The two stood straight and bowed respectfully to her saying, "I'm very sorry miss."

Sakura was a little more then embarrassed, and she could tell she was blushing because she always got really hot in the ears when she did. "Umm, well, apology accepted, uh, I need to go." She smiled awkwardly and continued on her way.

The three samurai were silent as she left. The one in the middle, who had been pushed and bumped into Sakura, scratched the back of her helmet, "She was actually kinda cute… for a Konoha girl."

He was promptly whacked on his head by the captain.

"Hey listen, I did not do it on purpose, ok!" Raido pleaded his case to the irritated Ino marching in front of him.

"Of course!" she replied sarcastically. "If you had done it on purpose that would have meant that you had some level of skill. Why on earth would I assume you did it on purpose? I'm sorry Raido the clumsy."

Raido stopped and breathed heavily. He was just about at his edge. That morning he had decided he would try to be nice, but that blonde princess was impossible!

"Perhaps the problem is your air-headed girlishness." he muttered.

Ino stopped and turned.

_Oh dear,_ he thought in panic,_ she heard that!_

She stomped back towards him.

"Look, I was just thinking aloud about somethi-!"

"You said what about my weight?" Ino said raising a fist.

"What I said wa- huh?" Raido blinked in confusion. "I, I didn't say anything about your weight!"

"You sure?" she muttered dangerously.

"Yeah, I'm sure, because you would have heard me comment on your…"

Kakashi heard Raido let out of short, but agonising yelp of pain after a pounding noise. He sighed heavily, "They are not going to ruin my vacation. I'll deal with them when we head out on our own."

"Fancy running into you again,"

Kakashi looked up to see a Samurai of the iron village greeting Sakura.

Sakura laughed shyly and replied, "At least you didn't knock me over this time."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Huh?" The Samurai replied, "No that was my buddy, he has guard duty up there, I was the other one."

"The one that pushed him into me you mean." Sakura softly scolded.

"Ha-ha, err well; anyway, as I was saying, he was the other guy."

"Sorry, I can't tell you all dress the same it seems." Sakura said, starting to walk to keep up with the caravan's movement.

The samurai fell into step next to her, "To the casual observer yes, but you see my shoulder patches, those denote my squad, green. Then this plate at the front of the armour skirt has my name."

Sakura glanced down, "Yamamoto?"

"Yep, name's Yamamoto, pleasure to meet you."

"Sakura Haruno,"

"That's very… flowery. We don't have names like that in the Iron village."

"Really? It's unusual?" Sakura asked. At home and on missions she had actually run into a lot of Sakuras, she figured it a universal name.

"Yeah, very unusual, but pretty, it fits you."

Sakura blushed. She knew what the guy was up to; even she was not _that_ blind. "Well, tha-" just as she was running out of things to say Kakashi came into view.

"Oh Kaka-sensei!" Sakura called out.

Kakashi turned around, and lowered his omnipresent book. "Ah, good day Sakura, yo Yamamoto," He plastered on a smile, wiping away the frown of irritation.

The Samurai was taken aback the sudden informality, then he recognised, "You- you're the copy-nin Hatake right?" his voice and stature oozed a sense of awe.

"One and the same!" Sakura announced boastfully. "He was my sensei too when I made genin!" If she had been a peacock, her tail would have been on full display.

Kakashi was taken aback by the pride filled response of his student. He was actually really flattered. "Yes I ar- am." _Drats, I stuttered,_ he scolded inwardly. He had not done that ever.

"Wow!" Yamamoto exclaimed. "I've always wanted to meet you sir. Up in the Iron village you are a real hero, many of us have wanted to see you in combat someday, but with us being neutral and all that didn't seem possible."

The fuzzy feelings of flattery vanished and were replaced by irritation as soon as Kakashi was reminded of the samurai's presence and pulled back into the real world. "Well glad I could obl-" he stopped when he noticed Yamamoto wasn't even looking at him.

"So I guess that must mean you have a lot of in depth jutsu from such a master. You're probably better then some of our captains."

Kakashi's eye twitched. _So all the hero worship was just so you could flirt more? _Fire burned angrily in Kakashi's chest, though he maintained his bored expression valiantly.

"Well," Sakura began.

Kakashi and Yamamoto's attentions were immediately captured by her voice, though for different reasons.

"Actually Kakashi-sensei only taught me basic chakra control and genjutsu resistance. Other than that he focused on the other two students. But really early on I became the personal apprentice to the Fifth Hokage Tsunade."

If Kakashi had less control, his shoulders would have gone limp. _She was right, _he bemoaned. I did focus on the boys… so in reality, I don't have much claim on her current ability!

"However…"

Kakashi perked up again, though still kept his outer display of interest minimal.

"Kakashi-sensei did start teaching me again recently, and I'm really glade we naturally have the same chakra." she turned and smiled a truly golden grin.

Kakashi's smile widened just a bit more.

Sakura continued, making Kakashi's pride grow evermore inflated. "It makes me feel like I'm in an exclusive club, and kind of special."

"That's great," Yamamoto replied, "But you seem like a pretty special person just by yourself."

And that was it; the line in the sand had been crossed. "Sakura," Kakashi spoke up. "We need to meet up with the old married couple back there."

"So the fighting has gotten that bad?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, anyway, nice meeting you Yamamoto," Kakashi accidentally permitted a hint of hostility, but he hoped the young man was as oblivious as he was irritating.

Sakura followed suit, saying a polite farewell.

"Well, see you again Sakura-san… and Kakashi-dono."

The silver haired nin rolled his eyes, both at Yamamoto's obvious flirtation, and at how 'Kakashi' was tossed in as an after thought.

Once they were a distance away, Sakura chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh he was just so adorable. Though I must say, it can be fun to get attention like that now and again. Though if he got any fresher, I was going to pound him one,"

Kakashi felt like heaving a sigh. He was pretty sure Sakura was more sensible than to be affected by flirtation, but the confirmation put him at complete ease.

"Indeed," he replied. "He's just a kid. I hate to think what he'll be like in a few years."

"He'll probably get a nice girl and settle down." Sakura replied.

"Hah, I doubt it."

"Says the man who reads porn… that's a real turnoff to ladies you know."

Kakashi was surprised at the comeback. However he showed the cover of the book he was holding to plead his defence. "I'll have you know I am reading historical fiction! See, it's about the Edo period!"

Sakura blinked, "Well, that's-"

Raido's loud voice cut her off, "You know, the forehead wrinkle might not make you look twice your age if you weren't such a pouting princess!"

"So, trying to excuse your grabbing my butt by saying I look your age?" Ino retorted, "I don't think so you perv."

"My hand just grazed your hip. You were the one walking too close!" Raido yelled in his defence.

Sakura and Kakashi slumped wearily at the thought of camping tonight.

"Is it just me or are they getting worse?" Sakura asked.

"They're getting worse." Kakashi replied.

"I kind of want to set up camp without them…" Sakura said. "If Ino sleeps next to me, all she is going to tell me all her woes, 'Raido this' 'Raido that' 'Raido is such a' and so on. I will not get a moment's rest."

"You know, I have an idea." Kakashi said.

"Huh?"

Kakashi seemed to enter teacher mode, "Just let them fight it out. If we try to split them up it's not going to work, they are just getting worse."

"Yes! Have them use the same shelter; after all, it's going to rain so they wouldn't be able to escape each other." Sakura smiled in self-satisfaction.

"Then we can get a good night's rest in the other shelter." Kakashi finished happily.

"Good, operation Silent Night is a go!" Sakura announced.

"Yeah… but first let's break them up." Kakashi replied, pointing at the two who were now quite literally at each other's throats. "Hey!" he barked harshly.

The two jumped in surprise.

"Is this really how shinobi act? We have gone out on a low profile easy mission and you two can't work as colleagues and just swallow your pride? Ino, you are a medic nin who can keep her cool in almost any situation. Raido, you're a jounin and body guard to the Hokage, I would expect a level head from you. Perhaps the problem is that this was an easy mission you two thought you could take it easy and cruise through it. The hokage is counting on use to complete this and then relax, if you can't do that, then what did your sensei labour over you for?"

Both of them looked down in shame.

"You don't have to like one another, but for the rest of the mission, you two are partners, inseparable to the end, got it?"

"Yes sir." they replied in unison.

"Good, let's set up camp." Kakashi lead the way towards a small gap in the trees.

The four shinobi worked on setting up the shelters and hurriedly ate their packed dinner. After that, Ino walked over towards Sakura. "Well time for bed."

"No Ino, you're going to share the shelter with Raido."

"What?" Raido and Ino exclaimed.

"Yes, it's up to you whether you get any decent sleep or not." Kakashi stated with a sharp glare.

Both of them did not argue further as they hurried to get out of the rain into the simple tarp shelters.

Sakura looked shocked that it had worked; the two were silent as the grave.

Kakashi rolled out his mat and kicked off his sandals. Then he proceeded to get tucked into his sleeping bag.

Sakura stood still for a moment.

"Something wrong?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh, nothing… it's just awkward?"

"How?"

"…"

"Look, it's a big space; we won't be any closer than when we normally camp out."

"Oh, never mind," she said dismissively as she crawled into her own bag. The rain pummelled down on the tarp, wiping out any outside noises.

"If you like we could put our packs between us?" Kakashi suggested.

"Ok,"

"…"

"I'm sorry, this is even more awkward." Sakura spoke up, moving her pack back to under her head.

"Alright," Kakashi replied and likewise returned his pack to its place under his head.

"Sensei?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could help me with Raiken sometime, on this mission?"

"I wouldn't be against it, perhaps after we arrive at the onsen."

"I wouldn't want to take up your time break time…" she said hesitantly.

"No, it wouldn't be a problem. Teaching is relaxing compared to almost anything else I have to do."

"That's a relief."

"…"

"Good night."

"Good night."

However, honestly Sakura stayed away a little longer than she should have. Kakashi was facing away from her, so she looked at his back. She remember another time when that back had protected her, when she was too weak to dodge Zabuza, when she was too weak to fight the sound ninja, and most recently when she was too weak to kill her friend, Sasuke. So many times Kakashi had been like a shield to her.

_Someday, _she vowed, _I'm going to repay my debt to you. It doesn't matter how many years it takes, but I'm going to walk next to you rather than behind. But for now, all I can say is 'thanks.'_

"Hmm?" Kakashi grunted.

_Drats, he heard! How much did I say? _"Oh sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to speak aloud."

Sakura closed her eyes and fell asleep to the sounds of pattering rain.

** Ok, look forward to chapter 7 where they set out for the actual mission! Took me long enough, I'm a real sucker for prologue… and epilogue for that matter. The end of this story doesn't seem to be in sight, so please review and help me improve.**

**And to InARealPickle, I'm going to try to use the Japanese suffixes, I will, because there are tonnes of situations where they fit better, I just speak English so it's odd lol.**


	7. VII Kansou

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns everything!**

**Thank you quarterdark for the comments, I hope there are more quotes for you to enjoy! Also ImmaBeforever, awesome username, and thank you for reviewing.**

Chapter 7: Kansou (Impressions)

Sakura opened her and blinked groggily. She was trying to decipher what the dark lump was in front of her until she finally realised. It was Kakashi's bedding, and her face was practically buried in it.

She gasped loudly as she sat up inside the shelter. She did not know whether to be relieved at Kakashi's absence or apprehensive of what he was going to think. _He's probably going to think of me like a child… Of course, maybe I didn't move until after he left… maybe… GRRR, why do things have to get awkward? It's all because Ino and Raido couldn't act like mature adults._

The rain pounded heavier on the canvas above her. She sighed, _Oh well, it's not like a snuggled intentionally. I was cold, and there was a source of heat and it smelled nice…_ Her eyes widened in horror at the thought, she shook her head and smacked her face. _Grraw! You are such a weirdo Sakura, "he smells nice," only creepy, spazzy girls say stuff like that, and only about celebrities._

She grabbed her pack ready to head out, but at the sound of the rain, and realising that Kakashi hadn't packed up his bedding, obviously they weren't on the move. A caravan moves poorly in the rain. She felt a cylindrical shape in her pack. "Oh the scroll!" she exclaimed, reaching in to snatch it.

The scroll unrolled in her hand, once again revealing a batch of nonsense Hiragana. She was surprised when the ink moved before her eyes, reconstituting into a new shape. This time the first few lines were clear,

_First stage completed, ocular alignment and mental modicum produced …_

And then it returned to gibberish. "What was that?" _Ocular alignment, was the shape of the kana meant to make my eyes focus? That doesn't make any sense._

She examined the next section of text, attempting to decipher what it meant…

"Sakura," she heard someone calling in the distance, "Sakura?" A hand rested on her shoulder and shook her, "Sakura!"

She jumped out of her trance, her pupils contracting and turned around to see Kakashi's quizzical face.

"Focused on your reading, I see." he said warmly.

"Huh?" she replied, "Oh sorry, there just wasn't anything else to do because of the rain."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "It stopped raining over a couple hours ago, and the road has dried out enough for the caravan to move."

"What?" Sakura replied. _What's going on? I just woke up a few moments ago. _She stuffed her pack hurriedly. "Sorry, I lost track of time!" she apologised.

They took down the shelter and packed it up.

"Ino and Raido are towards the front of the caravan by a large pine, I'll catch up." Kakashi replied.

"Yes sir!" she said, then dashed off.

Kakashi discretely activated his sharingan and examined her chakra network. It was disturbed as if she had just released herself from a weak genjutsu. He would have been on guard, had he not been perplex by the utter lack of foreign chakra, almost as if she had placed herself in an illusion.

_Though, _he considered, _fatigue can also make a chakra system look like that, but she seemed like she got enough sleep, judging by how her face was pressed up against my arm…_ He did not like how that thought made him feel, happy, pleased? There was no reason to be. It was just a normal camp out. They had shared a tent before, granted, she was fourteen then, when they went on a mission together. He remembered that time for a moment. She had not acted at all nervous about it then, but alas, it seemed innocent girls grew up into self conscious women.

That was the last mission they went on together until Naruto returned from training. Between then they had seen each other a couple times a month, and talked even less. It seemed Naruto was the only real glue there.

_And here I am reminiscing, _Kakashi sighed, _and all because I had a twisted happiness about her resting on my arm. I need a vacation… wait-_

He leapt into the trees to hurry and regroup.

_This… is weird. _Sakura thought while looking at Raido and Ino cautiously. The two of them were laughing over a joke; and not a cleaver one either. Actually it was not just that, the two of them were being… _nice_.

"At least it stopped raining." Ino said, stretching, "Is it just me, or is it getting wetter the further north we go?"

"No, it's just the season. Now the village hidden in the waterfall; that is wet I tell you…" Raido began.

_Oh dear heavens, they are talking about the weather!_ Sakura thought, nearing an emotion similar to horror. This was how it had been for the last hour.

She looked back at Kakashi, who was simply walking behind them at a steady pace. His face was hidden by the book, so she couldn't tell what he was thinking. But in afterthought, she realised she would not be able to tell his thoughts even if she could see the bored expression, or perhaps the all-too-innocently-smiling one.

She looked back ahead at the two. They had moved on to gossip… _That was it!_ Sakura realised. _Being stuck together forced them to either talk nicely or just be silent. Knowing Ino she _has _to speak she must have somehow patched it up, or at least tried to find some sort of common ground. Kaka-sensei is a genius. _She complimented inwardly.

She almost thought Kakashi had read her mind, again, when he spoke up, "Hey, Sakura, could we talk?"

"Umm, yes," she turned to Ino, "We'll catch up, okay?"

"Alright," Ino replied then she and Raido continued on their tame argument about their preferred Hokage.

"What's the matter?" Sakura asked smiling.

"I…" Kakashi began, and then stopped… he had forgotten what he was going to say!

Sakura's smile turned grave, "What's wrong?"

Kakashi's memory reappeared as soon as her smile disappeared. "Well, it's not anything major, but would you show me that blank scroll you were staring at?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she shook her head, "Umm, I'm really sorry, I can't. It belongs to my grandmother, and she explicitly told me not to hand it to anyone."

"Did she tell you to keep _what_ it is a secret?" Kakashi prodded.

"Well, not worded that way…" Sakura conceded.

"Tell me," Kakashi ordered.

Sakura surprised him by returning an equally commanding glare. "First tell me why you need to know?"

Kakashi smiled, her determined glare always forced him to grin. "Because, I believe it's affecting your chakra network, like a genjutsu. It's not safe to have on hand when we are on a mission if it can make you go into a daze like that."

"And how did you come to this conclusion?" Sakura challenged.

Kakashi just grinned behind the mask and pointed at his left eye.

_I fell right into that one, _Sakura grumbled. "Alright then, I promise not read it until we are at the onsen, and then you can watch. Since you have the sharingan, there's no point in hiding it."

"What happened to obeying your grandmother?" Kakashi asked.

"She handpicked you to teach me, so I'll take that she trusts you."

"Well, good to know your grandmother likes me, practically makes me kin doesn't it?" he said jokingly, resting his arm on her shoulder.

"Ha!" Sakura laughed, skipping ahead, "You might want to take that back, grandma makes Tsunade look nice!"

Kakashi smiled, _She certainly-_

"Hello Sakura-san!"

Kakashi frowned, _Yamamoto… _he grumbled.

Sakura smiled brightly at the fully armoured Samurai. She imagined that he had a goofy, nice smile, though with the helmet, she was stuck to supposition. "Oh hi! And hello captain, she looked down at his nameplate, "…Kawazoe, right?"

"Yes," the Capt. Kawazoe confirmed, "Good to see you again."

"My name's Ishida!" the other samurai piped up, eager not be left behind by his seniors.

"So how has it been going?" Sakura asked Kawazoe.

Ishida's shoulders slumped at the lack of acknowledgement.

"Actually we are going on a short errand." Kawazoe replied.

Kakashi walked up and stood next to Sakura, offering Yamamoto a threatening glare.

Yamamoto, for the first time, took the hint, shying away from stepping up close to the kunoichi.

"Well I would hate to keep you." Kakashi said, with forced pleasantry.

Kawazoe took the hint and waved his subordinates off, "Hurry to the back of the caravan you two, I'll follow in a bit." Then he turned to Kakashi, "I look forward to battling along side you, Copy Nin."

"As would I," Kakashi replied, "Now excuse us."

Sakura bowed politely and hurried onward, waving farewell. Kakashi turned to walk away when Kawazoe called after him. "Be careful with that flower of yours. In this war there's many ways her life could turn out. Tread carefully, Kakashi-san, your actions are what mean the most to her."

Kakashi squinted his eyes questioningly then hurried away. He didn't understand the last part of the statement. _What was that man implying? He acted almost like _I_ was going to get her hurt… _He sighed; He shouldn't care what some random samurai's opinions could be.

He found the rest of his team.

"So, I guess it's time for us to change." Raido said, reaching into his pack.

"Yes," Kakashi replied. "From here on out, we aren't ninja, we four civilians on a peaceful getaway."

"Err…" Ino grumbled.

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, how are we all related? I can tell you all right now that we look nothing alike. And some of us can't maintain a transformation for long periods." She said. "The story of use being vacationers, yes, that makes perfect sense, but why would our group of four be to each other?"

"I was just going to get to that…" Kakashi replied. "Raido and I will be-"

"Oh I know!" Ino exclaimed, "We'll be your newlyweds!"

Raido laughed uproariously, Kakashi sighed irritably, and Sakura's eyes popped open. "No!" she refused, her face turning red.

"Why not?" Ino said mischievously, "It'd be fun to have a man on your arm and tell everyone around 'hey, this is my hubby!'"

"No! No it would not!" Sakura insisted. "One, we look _way_ too young and two, we could just as easily go as a group of casual friends."

"Aww, you spoil all the fun, you could have Raido here…"

Sakura was about to speak back when Kakashi interrupted.

"Relax, Sakura." Kakashi ordered gently. "Ino is on the right track though; we do need a reason to be together. So our back-story is thus: Sakura and I are siblings by the name of Sakura and Takeshi Inoue. Likewise Raido and Ino are siblings with the last name of Sawara. The reason we are all together is that Sakura and Ino are getting married and, being the close siblings we are, this is our special way to say goodbye.

"Sakura and I know each other well enough, we could probably pull this off," Kakashi continued. "But Ino and Raido, you two are likely going to need to find out as many useful details about each other as possible."

"Yes sir," Ino and Raido replied crisply.

"No objections?" Kakashi asked, looking to Sakura.

"No…" she replied, seeming hesitant for reasons Kakashi couldn't comprehend.

"Good, then everyone get changed."

A few minutes later Kakashi walked out, dressed in blue pants and a black short sleeved shirt and a dark grey mask covered his lower face. He also wore a plain eye patch and had his normally spiky and wild hair at least slightly tamed. The next person to come out was Raido, who wore black pants, a brown jacket, and a simple white shirt.

"How long do you think it's going to take the girls?" Raido asked playfully.

Before Kakashi could make a point of ignoring the question, Sakura appeared out of the bush. She had changed into a black, knee length skirt and a black shirt with a high neck and white sleeves. Her hair was tied back into a pony tail with a green ribbon which matched her eyes.

She blushed at their stares. "Umm, so do you think this will do?" she asked.

"Yes," Kakashi smiled. "You fit the role perfectly."

Sakura would have commented on his outfit, but for some reason, Sakura felt rather disappointed with the tame comment she received. She would have preferred a _'you look great!'_ or even just _'that looks nice on you.'_ But just addressing the fact that the clothes fit the role felt her feel rather insecure and worse yet, she didn't know why she should care.

A few impatiently waited minutes later, Ino emerged wearing a fashionable blue vest with a small, violet jacket.

"You look lovely madam," Raido said, bowing comically.

"You look swell too sir." Ino replied in mock formality.

Sakura wished Naruto was there to coo over her, and his cooing would be serious, unlike Raido. Despite everything she found annoying about the orange ninja, he was always sure to inform her that she was pretty.

"The town should be about a few hours walk from here," Kakashi informed them. "We should be there before sunset. So, move out, and act casual, there is no hurry."

The four walked up the trail leading into the brush and meadow coloured hills into the land of Hot Springs.

**YAY! Completion of chapter seven! I kind of feel like this is some sort of landmark. I suppose this means it's the point of no return. I'm going to continue writing, it's too addictive and it helps hold me over while I wait for the next chapter/episode of Naruto to be released. On that note, why do y'all write/read fanfic? I would love to hear it if you care to review. And don't be shy about criticism!**

**Oh and I hope y'all enjoyed the developments… I also realised something… Kakashi hasn't moaned about his age for a while. Maybe it's because Raido is six years older (35) and still young, that's probably why, Kaka-sensei is counting his blessings.**

**The next chapter is in the works currently and will be called Kyoudai (look it up for a hint), hope y'all enjoy!**


	8. VIII Kyoudai

**I own nothing, unfortunately, except a Tobi mask and an Akatsuki ceramic desk organizer, oh and a poster. (Ok, I'm bragging, lol, sorry)**

**I think I'm getting addicted to writing this story, I am released chapters way more often than my biweekly promise.**

Chapter 8: Kyoudai (Older Brothers, Younger Sisters)

The midday sun shone down on the travellers, warming them through their cloaks. Sakura admired the foothill landscape, with its deep ravines, stunning waterfalls, and steam clouds rising from volcanic lakes in the canyons below them. A short exclamation of surprise caught her attention.

"*gasp* you're thirty-six!" Ino exclaimed.

"You don't have to be so loud about it." Raido replied; the un-scarred side of his face grinning.

Ino coughed a little, seeming taken aback. "Well, er, I thought Kakashi was older than you."

"Hehe, nope, I'm older." Raido said scratching the back of his head embarrassed.

"Huh, then that makes you twenty years older than me." Ino muttered. "You know, you could actually go as my dad."

Raido was silent for a while. Then said, "I really don't think I would fit the role of a father…"

"Why?" Ino asked impishly, "It's not like you couldn't have found a wife if you wanted, that scar alone would snatch the girls!"

Sakura stopped in surprise at her friend's careless wording. Kakashi slowed down, pretending to read his book, but raised an eyebrow in disapproval. Ino's next statement made Sakura want to shake the blonde by the neck.

"Well not I of course but I have ridiculously high standards…" Ino's smile disappeared when she realised her breach of tact and saw the jounin's strange expression. "Umm, not that I- er, I wasn't saying that I think you are- or that I have fee- umm, er, umm," she bowed quickly. "I'm sorry! I let my mouth run away from me."

Raido smiled and was about to reply when he was interrupted by Ino's continued tirade of how horrible she was. At this point, both Sakura and Kakashi were just standing and watch dumbstruck, amazed at how many syllables could come out of her mouth every second.

Finally, the scarred ninja snatched her by the shoulders, raised her up to eye level and said, "It's alright." He smiled fully, making even his scar crinkle a little.

Ino didn't say a think about how creepy his scar looked when it crinkled like thin paper, she just gave a genuine smile back.

Sakura sighed in relief, they had spared from another argument period.

And so the trek continued, Raido and Ino up front, exchanging facts and memorising them. Sakura and Kakashi were in the back walking, just walking. Sakura looked up at the white haired jounin. She liked how he looked as a civilian, it made him seem more approachable, like he was a friendly guy a person might just happen to run into at the market or in the park and end up in an hour long conversation. But at the moment he could have been miles away from her. He just kept reading the book, like he always did on missions of this level. But for some reason it bothered Sakura this time.

_Raido and Ino sure are taking their role seriously… _Sakura thought. _But here I am with Kakashi, who I've known for over four years, and I don't even know what his favourite food is. Furthermore, I don't know much about his everyday life, I've never been part of that, so how would a little sister of Kakashi act? What would it be like to be a little sister?_

She wanted to think of something to say, but nothing was forthcoming. The silence between them was too thick for her to cut.

"What's your favourite colour?" Kakashi said.

Sakura looked at him in surprise, he still had her nose stuck in his book, but his eye looked sideways at her, asking for a response. "Red," she replied.

"Hmm, makes sense…" he said dismissively.

_What's that supposed to mean?_

"Favourite food?" he continued interrogatively.

"Dango,"

"Favourite animal?"

"Umm, I suppose dog," She was certain that she saw his mouth twinge into a smile under his mask, but for just a moment.

"Gemstone?"

"Sapphire,"

"Flower?"

"White lily,"

"Place?"

"The bridge, oh wait, that's gone…" she thought a moment longer, "The lake shore, or the roof of the aviary."

"Bracelets or necklaces?"

"Necklaces of course- wait what?" she stopped and looked at him.

He glanced over his book at her. "Just wanted to confirm what I knew about you."

"But, I've never told you about those!" Sakura exclaimed. "How would you know any of that?"

"Just observations I made, seems I scored a hundred percent too." Kakashi replied plainly.

"Ok, my turn then-" Sakura said. "Colour?"

"Blue,"

"Animal?"

"Dog,"

"Gemstone?"

"Amethyst,"

"Flower?"

"White lily…" he replied distantly.

"Place?"

"…"

"Well?" Sakura prodded.

Kakashi remained silent, as his mind went to the place he frequently did. He felt tightness at his chest when he thought about that place.

Sakura looked at his face questioningly and pain seemed to wrap up in her stomach when she saw his eye. It reflected something between sadness and anger, regret. Just looking at that emotion filled eye made Sakura have to look away. The silence weighed down, seeming ten times heavier than what it was before.

"I'm sorry…" Sakura whispered.

Kakashi was snatched back from his reverie by her solemn response. _Crap! I made her feel awkward. That was stupid! _"I'll take you there someday." he said, smiling at her.

Sakura looked back at him and smiled. But again she saw his eye, the regret still seeming pour out of it. Silently she moved a few feet closer to him as they walked, hoping that somehow her presence might make his thoughts return to happier times.

The four travellers came around the corner of the hillside path, and there before them was the town.

"We're here!" Sakura cheered.

They all admired the red roofed building that seemed to stack one on another on the steep slope. Any flat space was a garden and, judging by the puffs of steam that rose into the air, was a hot spring.

"Finally!" Ino yelled, grabbing Sakura's hands. They both cheered and leapt in joy.

The team hastened their steps until they found themselves in the bustling town centre. They glanced around at the colourful booths, the chatting shoppers, and the street performers. As they passed a small band that was playing a lively tune, Ino pulled aside, whispered in the musician's ear and then struck a pose.

_Oh dear, _Kakashi grumbled.

Ino launched into her dance. Her skirt would fly outwards like an umbrella then twisted in, seeming to advertise her figure. A crowd gathered rapidly. She spun, her blonde hair flying every which way to the fast beat of the drums. She released her locks from her pony tail as she continued the dance with only her upper body, seeming to float on an invisible sea as her body slithered like an eel. The decorative coins and beads on her dress tinkled with every twitch of her hips.

Kakashi would not have let her make such a display, but he was rather impressed with her talent. If anything, it'll make them look even less like ninja on a secret mission. He looked at the overwhelmingly male audience, and felt like laughing inwardly. Then he glanced at Raido's face. He elbowed him hard in the ribs.

Raido looked at him in surprise.

"At least look like you are her brother." Kakashi whispered.

The scarred ninja cowered in embarrassment then put on a "brotherly" face.

Kakashi heard regular thumping to his right. Sakura was tapping her foot to the beat and nodding her head. For a moment Kakashi thought how he would have liked seeing her dance. He caught himself before he imagined the spectacle in too much detail. He looked intensely in the direction of the performance, though actually he was thinking more about the source of the repetitive beat next to him.

_Ino dashed up to Sakura, grabbing her hands, "Come on; join me!"_

If Kakashi was a dog, his ears would have just stood at attention.

"No, I can't dance! You know that." Sakura refused.

Kakashi grumbled darkly to himself about not getting to see Sakura dance, and simultaneously scolding himself for thinking like Jiraiya. _I needed to quit those books years ago…_ he thought regretfully, _never realised they would twist my mind this much._

Ino made a mock injured expression then returned to the dance. With a final crescendo, the music stopped.

_Finally, _Kakashi thought in relief. He watched as the band tried to give her half of the considerable tips and offered to make her a permanent member. She refused gracefully, insisting she had such fun.

As she rejoined with them Raido said, "That was nice of you, if only you could have been like that a few days ago."

"_You_ started that fight with your attitude, _brother_." She replied saucily.

Sakura and Kakashi looked nervously in unison. But they were relieved when that was the end of the discussion. The four of them continued towards the opposite edge of town when they saw the Souma Onsen.

"This is it," Kakashi said.

"Aren't we supposed to come here _after_ the errand?" Sakura asked.

"Oh we aren't here for bathing," Kakashi assured her by whispering in her ear.

For some unknown reason she felt strangely warm. _What was that? _She thought nervously. Then the close proximity was broken.

Soon the four of them were sitting and being served tea by the hostess. Her grey hair was tied up gracefully, allowing some of her silver locks to tumble along the sides of her face. Despite her greatly advanced age, she radiated a strange beauty that had all of them captivated.

Once she was finished she spoke quietly with even metre. "We have received the message from Tsunade-sama. The preparations have been made."

Sakura and Ino sat at attention at even the mention of their teacher.

"What are the specifics?" Kakashi asked.

The hostess nodded deeply and continued. "We are not yet fully prepared, but we have the serums that she wanted. You will pick those up from a man in a yellow coat on the outside of the village when you leave tomorrow. The other items and ingredients she requested will be sent via pack wagon. Though they are of comparatively little value and are of no concern to your mission."

Sakura spoke up, "Ma'am, I request that I and Ino inspect the shipment thoroughly, we want to be certain they are what Tsunade-sama ordered."

The woman smiled warmly to her, "Yes of course, we were expecting as such. You may do so immediately."

"Thank you." Sakura said bowing, then getting up. She turned back to Kakashi, "We will be a while, so you could book the rooms at the onsen if you want, Takeshi-sensei." She winced realising she just mixed his fake first name with his title. _If we were in other company the cover would have just been blown. _She shrugged apologetically.

He crinkled his visible eye in a typical smile and replied, "Alright, use the radio if you need anything."

She nodded then both her and Ino bowed to the hostess and were guided down the hall by one of the maids.

"Such a good girls you have." the hostess said after they left. "And you taught the pink haired one, judging how she called you "sensei". You never struck me as a medic too."

Kakashi shook his head, "No, I merely taught her initially, after that she was Tsunade's personal apprentice."

"Well, you left a good impression." The woman replied. "Just make sure she gets used to just using your first name."

"Yeah, indeed, old habits die hard. She's been calling me sensei forever now, even though I'm a taichou."

She shook her head vigorously, "Having been a ninja myself, don't discourage that. It's a sign of great endearment for former students to still call you by that title. Taichou is so impersonal." However as an after thought the woman added, "Unless you wish her to be less personal…"

"Oh no, not all, we're on good terms…" Kakashi really didn't know why being called a teacher bothered him. He still felt fine with Naruto calling him that, but whenever Sakura said it, he felt this weird feeling in the pit of stomach, something like anxiety but closer to guilt, and he did not know why he felt it every time she said sensei, with that smile and the green eyes. Then he realised he had paused so quickly spoke up, "ah, we should be going and book that room."

The hostess bowed farewell and the two jounin headed out the door.

"So, the vacation starts here does it?" Raido commented happily.

"Don't get too relaxed," Kakashi cautioned. "We are still on a mission." then he added meaningfully, "So only pretend to be chummy with Ino-san."

"What?" Raido replied indignantly. "What do you take me as? She's hot, but totally not my type, I don't go for the young ones."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow in suspicion, but his sharingan readily informed him that he was telling the truth. Some how that made him feel like a hypocrite, and he really didn't understand why. "That is reassuring, ah, we're here."

They both entered one of the typical onsen store fronts. Raido emitted a low whistle. Saying the place was nice would have been a gross understatement. The wall dividers were all beautifully embroidered and a sign on the wall had a long list of available services.

The front desk was manned by an intensely beautiful young lady with exotic red hair.

Raido hurriedly walked up to the desk and said nervously, "Umm, hello ma'am. We're here to check in, party of Inoue and Sawara."

The woman smiled at him warmly.

_So pretty! _Raido thought.

"Pleased to meet you," she said, bowing politely. Then she pulled out the reservation file and put on a pair of ovular reading glasses, brushing back a stray strand of red locks.

_So HOT! _Raido corrected.

"Yes, this is it." she confirmed looking at the file. "Are the rest of your party, Inoue-san and Sawara-san on their way?"

"They had some errands to do." Raido explained, staring intently at her.

She made a glimmer of suspicion at the scarred man, "Would you care for an upgrade to the honeymoon suite? We happen to have two rooms available."

Raido shook his head vigorously, "Oh, no, no, we're here with our sisters, a farewell present if you will. They're getting married."

The lady's countenance to Raido immediately warmed. "That's so sweet," she exclaimed, "Hey, I have some coupons here for spa treatment, I'm sure it would make them really happy."

"Th-thanks!" Raido said happily as her hands brushed his as she handed the tickets to him.

"Would you like to be roomed with your sisters?" she asked.

"Ah, no, we'll let the girls have their time together; it'll be a long time before they'll see each other."

Ino and Sakura leaned in the door into the reception hall.

"Looks like Raido is flirting with the receptionist, how cliché." Ino commented.

"Poor Kakashi-san looks bored." Sakura said examining his almost hunched over stature, most likely out of thorough disgust of the other jounin's antics.

"Hey, want to do something fun?" Ino suggested.

"What?" Sakura asked.

Ino whispered the suggestion and Sakura smiled.

The two walked in quietly. The receptionist glanced at them and Sakura raised a finger to her mouth. The receptionist's eye twinkled a little but she returned her attention to Raido vigilantly.

"So," Raido said, "Will you have any free time this oof!"

Ino tackled him from behind, rubbing her face in his neck while gushing about what a wonderful brother he was.

At the same time Sakura tackled Kakashi from behind, "You're not reading that book are you?" she asked playfully

"Hey gerroff!" Raido ordered.

"What's up brother," she asked, "flirting with yet another innocent bystander?" He blushed furiously but his protests were cut off when she directed her attention to the receptionist. "Oh, at least this one's pretty! Sorry about my brother, he's been bitter every since Orihime dumped him."

"No, no, it's quite alright." the receptionist said waving them off.

Sakura had quite a different experience. When she tackled Kakashi, he stood straight up first then he slowly turned his head sideways to look at her with one, dull eye. She immediately felt like she had done something wrong and inappropriate. She blushed in shame and looked away from him.

"I'm… sorry." she whispered.

Kakashi seemed to break out of his trance when he heard her words. "Oh, no, erm, apology accepted." He winced at his reply, which sounded colder than he wanted to.

Sakura nodded dutifully, more like a subordinate than a sister as she was supposed to be.

Regret bubbled up in Kakashi's stomach, but at that moment he couldn't find the words to say. Sakura had just been acting according to her cover, and he probably made her feel like she had just broken her grandmother's vase.

After a brief awkward silence Sakura cantered over to the other duo, laughing at their antics. Kakashi's regret fell even deeper, as that beautiful laughter, was not because of him.

Finally the four of them were escorted back to their rooms by an older maid, probably in her forties, but still gorgeous with raven black hair tucked up into a classy hairstyle. Raido sent one more shy wave back at the receptionist, which Ino quipped about how adorable it was.

After they left the redhead receptionist raised her sleeve and spoke into a small microphone hidden there. "They've arrived, begin preparations." She lowered her arms, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

**And CLIFF HANGER! Finally we can get some suspense! As Sakura would say, "Cha!"**

**Kakashi is feeling pretty dang guilty at this point, poor chap. Sakura's reaction was kind of not covered here, but no fear, next chapter shall have that in full. I realised this story was too cheerful, I must rectify this ASAP.**

**This "arc" should only last for six more chapters or so, (yes, I have it all planned out, be proud of me.) Then I'm going to get back to being relatively close to the events in the manga.**

**Also, if you noticed, this story is now in the "romance" genre and not the "friendship" one… who was I kidding anyway?**

**Also, for those who'd review (I really wish you would) please give me your rating of who is most OOC and who is least, your opinion really matters to me and does effect some of the content. So please review!**

**Playlist for this chapter: Mayonaka no Orchestra by Aqua Timez, Home Sweet Home by YUKI, and Darekaga by Puffy. Also if you want to chat sometime and talk about anime, foreign language, or fanfiction, my Skype is Patruelis, name Patrick Noël. Congrats, now you all can stalk me.**

**And, if any of the rest of y'all had problems with the infamous error type 2 which keeps one from updating stories, the solution is on my profile.**


	9. IX Chinshimokkou

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns everything.**

**Happy Birthday Sakura! That is the reason I decided to write ahead of schedule and release one more chapter before the month ended. Speaking of birthdays, I share one with Hinata Hyuuga, booyeah!**

Chapter 9: Chinshimokkou (Lost Deep in Thought)

Sakura nodded approvingly at their well furnished room as Ino ran over and flopped down on one of the beds.

"Yay, beds! Real beds- wow!" when she felt the softness of the mattress she snuggled down into it. She sighed in pure bliss. "I think I'll go to sleep right now."

"That comfortable?" Sakura asked, smiling stiffly. She sat down on the bed and her eyes widened in shock. She flopped back like Ino and breathed in joyfully. "You're right." she said quietly settling down into the mattress as she stared blankly at the ceiling.

"I know, it's awesome!" Ino agreed. She looked over at her friends blank face. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Sakura grunted.

"Well you're acting kind of down."

"Just kind of embarrassed." Sakura admitted.

"What?" the blonde exclaimed. "You mean what we did out there? We are undercover, there's no worry."

Sakura was silent.

Ino ran over the event aloud, "Raido complained but I think he enjoyed it. Kakashi-san on the other hand kind of ruined the moment, he looked like a statue, his eyes nearly popped out when you jumped him." Ino looked over at Sakura in realisation. "Is that what's bothering you?"

"Well, yeah."

"Relax, he probably was just surprised, you really aren't the type of person to just do that out of the blue. Just shows how much of a corrupter I am." Ino said, grinning ridiculously.

Sakura had to smile now, Ino was infectious with her emotions, and could make anyone feel what she did. But all too soon Sakura frowned again. She was certain that she had done something to cause this awkwardness between them. _Was it from then?_ Sakura wondered, _Ever since-_

Her thoughts were promptly interrupted by a loud knocking on the door. "Hey girls, it's Raido! Better be decent I'm coming in."

Ino rolled over irritably and yelled back. "It's not like you haven't seen it all before, _brother_." She grinned wickedly and Sakura's face was one of pure shock at the wording.

The door opened timidly and Raido stepped in, his face beet red. "You didn't have to put it that way _sister_."

Ino put on a face that exuded innocence. "Of course I did, because I'm an honest girl, I mean we've bathed together frequently, like close families do."

Raido coughed raising two slips of paper. "I came to give you these." He walked over to their beds and handed them over.

Ino glanced at it and almost shrieked had she not stopped herself. "Full spa treatment!" she squealed. "Sakura! Let's do that today!" Then she looked at Raido. "Thanks, but you are now dismissed." she ordered, like a mistress to a servant.

He scratched his head nervously and retreated the girls' room obediently.

Ino looked joyfully back at Sakura, only to see the pink haired girl stare back at her in shock.

"What?" Ino asked.

"What you said…"

"Oh come on Sakura," Ino said exasperated. "chill, it's not like any of it was true. We are undercover, it's fun to take opportunities that. Especially when it involved embarrassing that jerk. I've trained him quite well I think."

"I guess, but I could never say something like that, besides, you humiliated the poor man." Sakura mildly scolded. "Besides, I thought you two were friends now."

"Oh totally not!" Ino declared. "When we had to share that awning we agreed that if we didn't call at least a semi-truce Kakashi-taichou would find some way to make our lives miserable, probably string us up by our ankles next."

"I see, well you two are good at acting like friends?"

"Yes, isn't it obvious? He's acting just like me to make it _seem _as if we get along. Real friends are more opposite in personality." then Ino scooted over and joined Sakura on her bed, throwing an arm around her, "That's why our cover, yours and mine that is, is so good, we are such opposites that it makes sense that we would be friends." Ino said.

Sakura smiled like she meant it for the first time after the awkward encounter with Kakashi. "Ok," Sakura said, "Should we do the mud bath, manicure/pedicure, and then finish up with the facial and skin treatment?"

"That sounds perfect," Ino agreed. "Let's go!"

The two girls hurried out of the room, ready to wash off the trip and feel more like girls than kunoichi.

Kakashi sighed heavily as he read, trying hard to ignore Raido's incessant chatter and pleading for the two of them to go do something.

"C'mon Takeshi, we only have so many chances. Let's cruise town, stop by a bar or two. Our sisters are having spa treatment for crying out loud!"

Kakashi's eye twitched in irritation, "Sawara-san, er Namiashi, no one is listening in, you can use my real name, and secondly," he turned and glared dangerously causing Raido to cower back slightly. "I just finished a long trip and I wouldn't mind just relaxing, this _is_ a vacation isn't it? And I am in the middle of the plot twist scene, so sit down, shut up, and wait until I'm done, that's an order!"

Raido sat in quick military style, eyes straight ahead.

Kakashi continued while muttering, "I'm almost done with the chapter. Five minutes and we'll go do something." _That should appease him. I kind of understand why Ino was irritated. He's a complete whiner._

Like Kakashi had said ,he closed the book, returned it to a pocket in his hung up coat. "Alright, let's go, just one rule, no getting drunk."

"Yes sir!" Raido said saluting.

Again Kakashi's eyebrow twitched.

The moment the two stepped into the hall they heard a strange scuffling noise from around the corner.

"No Ino! They can't see me!" Sakura hissed.

"Come on, you look cute!" Ino insisted.

"I _look_ ridiculous!" Sakura protested.

"No, you look lovely. Come on!" Ino exclaimed, coming around the corner, hand latched on Sakura's.

"Oh there you two are! I was just about to come look for you!"

Kakashi and Raido were pretty much stunned. Ino's skin was seemingly glowing, a combination of the make up and skin treatments. She was dressed in a lavish violet kimono and looked like she was a painting by a master artist.

The two men gulped nervously, completely left feeling out of place in the presence of someone so adorned.

Ino looked next to her and tugged more. "Come on Sakura, the guys are waiting."

"Absolutely not! I'm not coming out!"

"Your _brother,_" Ino said winking at Kakashi. "looks especially eager to see your outfit."

Dead silence…

Kakashi's eyes widened momentarily at her statement then glared at Ino, who simply stuck out her tongue.

"I'll come out," Sakura said quietly, "but please, no one laugh."

"Calm down Sakura, you look great." Ino assured her.

"Make them promise." Sakura said.

"Huh?" Ino exclaimed, her face a picture of confusion.

"Make them promise not to laugh."

Ino sighed heavily and looked at them. "You guys won't laugh right?"

"No, we won't laugh." Raido replied.

Kakashi nodded silently in agreement. Quietly anxious to see what had been done.

"See Sakura," Ino stated, "No one is going to make fun of you."

"O-okay" Sakura took a deep breath, as if she was diving into the sea, then walked around the corner. She stood nervously, and not willing to look anyone in the face she looked at a supposedly fascinating spot on the wall.

Kakashi's heart skipped a few beats. Sakura had been pretty back at the fireworks festival, but this was a whole new level. Her skin looked perfect and seemed to be glowing just like Ino's. Her hair was shining brightly and was crafted into a basket-weave along one side of her head and pulled to the other side where it was fastened with an ornate comb, out of which her hair sprayed like a short fan. Then her bangs were loose but gracefully brushed to the side.

Then he realised he had spent his entire time looking at her face and hair, he hadn't even noticed the kimono. It was deep red with pink lilies spread over all of it. It complemented her hair, _and_ her blush perfectly. At that moment, if he had thought it, he would have hands down stated that she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"So, what do you guys think?" Ino asked.

Raido applauded, making Sakura smile slightly, albeit still very embarrassed. She cautiously looked towards Kakashi for his approval. However she didn't know how to react to his face. She saw him soften his surprised eyes to their normal bored appearance, but his gaze was locked on her, completely unmoving. She felt like his eyes was boring through her skull.

"You look…" he began. Sakura froze waiting for his next words.

"Alright! Let's go it's dinnertime!" Ino declared grabbing Sakura and breaking the moment. The girls passed Kakashi and to their room. Ino waved for the jounin to follow. Kakashi was slightly relieved Ino had interrupted, he had no idea what he was about to say, but he was pretty certain that it would have been unprofessional. He already felt conflicted as to his thoughts about Sakura, he didn't need unnecessary things to dwell on.

That night, the girls were lying in bed, Ino sleeping, Sakura lying on her side, but fully awake, staring at the wall of the room next door. Part of her was really glad at being seen in that beautiful borrowed kimono, at the same time she felt humiliated, flaunting about like a peacock in front of two older men no less.

_Kakashi was probably awkward, _she thought, _he's my superior, and being trapped in a situation like that, where he would give me a personal compliment just isn't professional. _And that was when she realised what had been bothering her. _He hasn't been cold to me! He's just uncomfortable too! Trying to keep the balance between work and personal. This feeling isn't attachment like I feared, I don't really want his opinion how I look. I was just nervous about how I would react to what he would say._

_Still… it would have been nice to hear what he was going to say. That's not weird, every girl likes to be told she's pretty, it's just that right now, I'm not with anyone who can say anything without being professional about it._ Relief swept over her. _I can just talk to Kakashi normally tomorrow, it's our day off. I just need to avoid any weird situations, just be like we always are. For example, he's still supposed to help me out with Raiken._

_...I wonder if he thought I was pretty…_

…

…

…

Unbeknownst to Sakura, Kakashi was laying on his side and staring at the wall between them as well. He was mulling over Sakura's disappointed face. He had seen it three times in the last day. First was her undercover outfit, all he said was she fit the job. Next was the playful joke, and he made her feel guilty. And third there was when she was dressed so beauti- attractively, and he was too tongue tied to even comment. Why couldn't he even toss out a playful jibe, each of those situations he could have used one, most women would take them wrong, but he knew Sakura would have at least felt less awkward and more confident about herself, if not a little irritated. But he would rather see her absolutely ticked, then even be a hint sad.

_I really messed up today, _he groaned. _I just need to act naturally, why am I loosing my cool? _He searched himself, but all the possible answers he found were less than desirable. He sat up in frustration. _I don't want this! Sakura has been my student, and now, I would like to consider her my friend…_

_That's it…_

_I've never called her that, friend. Student, yes, subordinate, yes, talented, definitely yes, but friend, never. _He felt kind of bad about that. _She really is my friend. You don't spend all this time on the field trusting in someone without them becoming a friend. And she's a close one too! I know her better than any other woman… girl I mean. She's just a girl, _he reminded himself firmly._ But she is one of the two people I'm closest to, the other being Naruto. I'm probably just feeling strange around her because Naruto isn't here. That hasn't happened since the mission we went together on two years ago… and if I remember, we hardly talked._

_Graaar! _he roared inwardly. _I need to stop hanging around all these kids! It's making me identify too much with them!_

He ran his hand through his silver hair tiredly. _I should get some sleep. And tomorrow I'm going to be normal again, that way maybe I could stop making Sakura look so down. I want to make her at least smile…_

With that thought, he drifted off into sleep.

**Sigh, I wanted to get farther into the plot, I have so much planned and it feels like I'm crawling. Does this story seem slow? Please tell me if it does.**

**Preview for next week! Things are gonna get steamy (well the hotsprings are, I'm such a tease), shopping, training, and then AFTER that chapter I promise to get into the actual meat of the plot, I even have the villains figured out. I love villains, they are so fun and I haven't had any yet (;_;).**

**Playlist: Open Up Your Eyes by Jeremy Camp. I don't know why, but I love this song and it vaguely fit…**

**Well, Sayonara for now y'all!**


	10. X Hakadoru

**And I'm back! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I think I made some definite progress (hehe)…**

**Disclaimer: This all legally belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.**

Chapter 10: Hakadoru (To Make Progress)

The morning had seemed like it would be perfect for Sakura, that was until they had breakfast. All she did was avoid looking at Kakashi, which was difficult since he was across the table from her. She bemoaned not just sitting next to him. However she was saved from further awkwardness when he took his meal to the other side of the room and turned around, lest they see his face. He did the same thing last night at dinner making her anxious to get even a minute glimpse of his face. But her internal battles kept her from even glancing.

The worst part about her nervousness was that she did not know why she was nervous. Before she went to sleep she thought she had resolved everything, but it seemed there was a big difference between thinking and acting.

She wondered what she wanted, was she really that bothered by how he had avoided complimenting her looks? She figured he might just be in "mission mode". When he was like that he would frequently be impersonal. However another question would haunt her, if they weren't on a mission, would he have said anything about how she looked? Granted, the last time he had commented on her physique, she nearly pounded him one, despite the fact that he was simply being concerned. Maybe he just figured he would irritate her again if he complimented her.

After much thought, she had resolved to look up at him, but by then he had finished his meal and had gone to his room to take a dip in the private hot spring.

Sakura now was beating herself down for her lack of resolve as she changed into her outfit, the black skirt and shirt with white sleeves. She looked in the mirror. _I really do look plain._ she thought.

She sighed, pulled her hair up into a ponytail with her green ribbon. She looked closer at herself, particularly her eyes and teeth, they looked really nice. And her mouth and jaw were seemly.

She smiled a little. _I'm pretty, just not enough to comment about._ In some weird way that half compliment/half insult thought made her feel a little better. As she headed to the door she kicked her pack accidentally and her grandmother's scrolled rolled out.

She had a short staring contest with it, then decided to pick it up. She was about to read it when she remembered that she had promised Kakashi that she would not unless he was watching.

"That's right," she muttered, "Didn't he say that he would help me with Raiken?"

She smiled and hurried over to the jounin's room.

She hit the door lightly.

"Come in," Kakashi answered.

Sakura took a determined breath, _I've faced Sasori of the Red Sand, looked Itachi in the eye, my own sensei won't be a problem!_ As she opened the door she had one more side thought, _Besides, if I don't learn Raiken, grandmother is going to skin me._

Kakashi looked up in surprise from his book, somewhat peeved that someone would come when he just when he started to read the only sensual scene, and only barely sensual, of the entire book. He had thought it would have been room service. "Oh, Haruno-san…" he muttered in surprise.

He saw her bite her lip nervously as she shut the door quietly. Then she hesitantly walked towards where he was sitting on the bed. He noted how odd it was that she hadn't said anything.

Now she was standing right in front of him, still silent. He felt distinctly awkward with the situation. He knew he should not, but he did. As she bent down to bring her face level with his, a small smile appeared on her lips.

Kakashi resisted the overwhelming urge to back up further on the bed. Just as his neck tingled uncomfortably Sakura's mouth opened.

"Kakashi-sensei," she whispered.

"Y-yesh," he answered huskily. _W-was that me?_ he thought inwardly horrified by his breathy and potentially sensual reply. It really was a bad time for reading.

"You promised," she continued in a quiet, almost coy voice, her hand moving to his arm.

"What?" he asked, his heartbeat racing in his chest as he wondered what on earth was behind the green eyes in front of him.

"You were going to teach me…" she answered, tugging at his sleeve, her voice so quiet he had to strain to hear it over the beating noise in his ears.

"Teach you-?" he asked, again in that terrible husky voice that he came to hate a few seconds before. _Oh wait! Teach! I'm a teacher! She's talking about-_ "Raiken?" he asked.

She stood straight up and looked at him incredulously. "Of course Raiken, what were you thinking?" she asked, her gaze focusing on the skin just below his eyes. "You look a little flushed, did you stay in the hot spring to long?"

Sakura brought her fair and flawless hand and placed in on his forehead. Kakashi inwardly scolded himself for taking note of her hand's skin quality of all things.

"Hmm" she muttered, then bent forward.

Kakashi knew she was about to put her cheek on his forehead. What scared him the most was that part of him was looking forward to it. And that is when he decided to call in quits. He slid back and stood up on the other side of the bed in one slick motion. "I'm fine, really." he assured her. "Let's go find a place to train."

Sakura gave a bright smile that made his heart melt inside. He was once again thankful for his mask, which allowed him to appear emotionless despite his swirling mind.

"Let's go, just let me get my purse." she said, hurrying to her room.

Kakashi sighed in relief as he walked into the hall, relieved of all of the pent up pressure, well most of the pressure at least. When Sakura re-emerged the two of them made their way out of the onsen.

"Why did you need the purse?" he asked curious.

"Because I've never been here before and there might be something want to buy as a memento." she replied.

"Oh, makes sense," he muttered.

The marketplace was abuzz with activity and Sakura was overwhelmed with a sense of awe. Kakashi enjoyed seeing her face. She looked so alive, like a child at a festival.

At last she did settle on buying something, a stone carving of a red panda. She gazed and cooed at it almost as if it was alive. "It's so cute!" she exclaimed, raising it to Kakashi's face.

He crinkled his visible eye happily and nodded in agreement, even though in the back of his mind he was guiltily confessing that he did not even notice the panda and was focusing on her smile when he nodded.

She put the carving gently in her purse and they walked toward the edge of the village.

As they faced the vast forest Kakashi glanced over at his subordinate. He was relieved to see her quiet smile, and he was glad that this time, _he_ had kept her in that cheerful mood. He was worried after yesterday that she would be too nervous around him, but somehow today, they were like they always were, no, better than they were. He wondered how this had come about, especially how they had left it off last night.

Then the truth hit him, _Sakura, she's the one that didn't like the situation most, but she was the one to bridge the gap. _He looked at her proudly but with a little shame. _She's much more mature than I am. I would have just let time lessen the wounds. Here I am, a man well familiar with women, but I couldn't have the tact to say she looked nice in her undercover cloths and made this whole situation get out of hand. She must have felt hurt, no girl wants to be seen as disinteresting, doesn't matter what relationship she has with the person._ He raised his hand towards her shoulder, not certain what he was going to say, just as long as it was a way to get through to her.

Sakura turned just in time to see Kakashi's raised hand retreat back to his side. "So, ready to go?" she asked, momentarily glancing at his hand.

He nodded in agreement and the two of them vanished into the treetops. As Sakura leapt and flipped from trunk to limb entirely through instinct, following Kakashi's lead. _See Sakura, everything is back to normal. _She reassured herself. She was disappointed for being unable to figure it out earlier. _I was selfish to think that I was the only one who felt weird._

Suddenly she realised she was alone in the canopy. _Oh no! Kakashi must have found a spot and I didn't notice!_ She came to a halt and looked around for any sign of wild silver hair. Unbeknownst to her Kakashi appeared on the branch behind her.

"Sakura, down this way."

She shrieked in surprise and lost her footing. She felt two gloved hands grab her elbows.

"Tsk tsk, and here I thought we covered detection skills." Kakashi scolded humorously.

Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I would be dead now wouldn't I?"

"Yes you would." Kakashi agreed, "Now, can you follow me without further distractions?"

"I'm not an idiot," Sakura snapped.

She kept close attention on her sensei this time and followed him when he dropped. They ran down steep, almost vertical slope and into thick underbrush of ferns. A distant rumbling sound echoed around them. When the two finally emerged from the undergrowth they were confronted by a flat mossy platform and when Sakura raised her eyes, her breath was taken away by a cascading waterfall.

"Wow!" she breathed.

"Nice place isn't it?" Kakashi muttered, "also be careful the water is a bit on the hot side, there are lava tubes right beneath us."

The hot water gave the whole area a cosy warmth, and flowers bloomed everywhere despite the season. The two gazed in silence, Sakura staring in wonder at the beauty before her, and Kakashi gazing at her look of wonder.

He could have stayed like this for several minutes longer but Kakashi forced himself to bring her back to reality, "Have you progressed further on Raiken?"

Sakura blushed in embarrassment. "I haven't practiced actually." she admitted.

"Ok, it's not like you have had a lot of free time recently." Kakashi excused her with a shrug. "Try it."

"Alright," Sakura wove the signs and gripped her wrist while cupping her hand in front of her. She winced in pain as the small orb of lightning wavered above her palm. Then, in a quick attempt to fire it off she pointed her hand to the opposite slope of the ravine. In a flash the thin lighting bolt fired veering in an arc and striking a rock in the middle of the sloping stream.

"Drats," she hissed, instantly weaving the signs to try again.

"Wait!" Kakashi ordered, "don't get ahead of yourself."

Sakura lower her hands and patiently waited for an explanation.

"First, just relax." he ordered. "You are too tense, you're letting electricity travel wildly through your body. We are at a hot spring, I figured you would be loose and ready for this."

Sakura considered informing him that it was his attitude for the past few days that had made her so tense, but she stopped herself.

"And secondly…" he paused thinking about how to explain it, "You need to…"

Sakura's looks of confusion was further enhanced, completely oblivious to how the sun was shining into the misty ravine, flooding her in almost divine light.

Kakashi looked like he wanted to speak, to continue his explanation, but instead he just stood there, looking right back at her. Sakura shifted nervously, wondering what had elicited such an unusual gaze.

Just before she was about to squirm he walked forward and said, "Turn around."

Sakura obliged, turning towards the steamy waterfalls, still confused because of the unnaturally long pause. She almost jumped when his hands touched her arms just above her elbows and then they slowly trailed down her white sleeves towards her wrists that she held in front of her. She was sure that she was going to blush at the unusual close contact when she finally detected it. The whole time Kakashi had been sending chakra into her arms and was now sending it towards her hands. She felt relief, though she was not really sure why.

Kakashi had wanted to speak, to continue his explanation, but he just couldn't as he noticed how her hair shined, eyes seemed to sparkle, and her skin glow in the magical rays of sunlight. When he saw the slightly impatient eyes squint questioningly at him, the spell caused by their strange setting broke. He shook his head and went directly in front of her.

That was when he ordered her to turn around. He placed his hands on her elbows and started pressing chakra into her own chakra system, being certain to align the two wavelengths. He thought how it would have probably been better to tell her what he was doing before just ordering her to turn around and then giving her a strange embrace. He really hoped she could detect the chakra. He looked down to her cheek and noticed how it was unusually pink and he could feel her racing pulse. He could feel a blush of his own threaten its presence.

_I better explain this! _he thought almost panicking. He thought of whispering in her dangerously close ear but decided against it. Instead he thought of something a little more discrete and less… compromising. He sent a slightly higher jolt of chakra.

He felt a breath of realisation escape her, or was it a sigh of relief. He wasn't too fond of the latter possibility.

_It's twisting! _Sakura noticed, _very slowly, but the chakra is twisting. _Finally she got it. She peeked over at the masked face resting just above her shoulder. Kakashi noticed her glance and nodded.

She wove the signs for Raiken and aimed towards the opposite bank, maintaining the exact same rotation speed that Kakashi showed her. The lightning released in a nearly straight line and caused the rock in the rapids to form a slight crack. Sakura, thrown into medic mode thought what the attack would have done to a human, the picture wasn't pretty, but rather satisfactory for her self defence.

She felt Kakashi nod, because his face brushed by her cheek and she became quite aware of his chest against her back. She ducked from his embrace and retreated a few steps.

"You could have just told me to slowly rotate it." she stated flatly.

"Yes, I could," he admitted with a shrugg. "However, 'slowly' is a very relative word, now you know exactly how slowly to rotate it and you won't go through trial and error."

"So you did this with Naruto too?"

"Nope!" he replied cheerfully. "I hadn't thought of doing it this way until just a little while ago."

"Uh huh," she nodded suspiciously. "You could still at least tell me, it was awkward, what if someone showed up at the wrong time, it would look weird."

"Why do you think we are in such a secluded location?" Kakashi asked rhetorically, he instantly regretted his wording.

Sakura looked at him suspiciously. "Yeah…"

…

…

…

…

A bird's chirping was the only sound in the overly long and awkward silence.

Kakashi coughed, "Well, I brought targets…"

"That sounds great!" Sakura exclaimed, wincing at sounding all too excited for the change of topic.

Reaching in his pocket, he retrieved a scroll. Then he rolled it out displaying the summoning circles. He made a sign and in a puff of smoke a pile of frisbee-like objects appeared atop of it.

"Alright, stand on that rock," he directed her to a wide and flattish spot amid the rapids. "I will throw these across the ravine, you are to attempt to hit as many of them as you can. Also, I'll give you a hint, lightning naturally never moves in a straight line, focus instead on where you are and what your target is. Do not worry about the angle, trajectory, force, or speed, just ground yourself and imagine what is the easiest way for the electricity to travel between you and the target."

Sakura nodded and leapt to the stone. She placed her feet firmly apart to maintain good footing and kept a keen eye and ear out from the underbrush around her where her sensei had disappeared into. Through the rumbling of the falls she heard a faint whistling noise behind her. Her hands were a blur as she made the signs then she took aim.

"Raiken!"

There was a flash of light as a narrow string of electricity shot through the air.

The untouched target glided into the cliff face.

"Tch," Sakura winced. The next target flew out directly in front of her. This time she had the jutsu ready so she hurriedly ran over mentally what he had said. She felt a light click on in her brain as her eyes followed the target's trajectory.

"Raiken!" A far less timid bolt of electricity escaped from her hands, after which it curved in an arc, just grazing the target. _If I get the hang of this, it will be nearly impossible to miss._

"So you noticed it, Sakura?" Kakashi said, leaping to the bank of the hot, tumbling, creek.

"Yes!" She replied seriously, silently noting how he finally said her name with a casual, relaxed tone like he always did. _Operation Make-things-between-me-and-Kakashi-sensei-not-awkward, success!_ her inner self cheered.

"Ok, just keep along that mindset. Let's continue, I'm not going to be easy on you anymore." Kakashi warned cheerfully.

Sakura shot a fake glare then became serious, she was ready for anything now.

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a sudden rustling of leaves. Three discs flew into the air from two directions. The ball of electricity in her hand seemed to waver with her stumped resolve. _How am I supposed to hit them all?_ She aimed towards one of them, she mentally formed the bond between her and the target. Suddenly all three targets swerved, diving her directed, she ducked to avoid the one that came too close.

_He attached wires, that jerk!_ she fumed, firing off the Raiken angrily.

Kakashi grinned almost guiltily as he pulled the wires, directing the targets right at Sakura. He felt like laughing as he could see her face twist in anger. She skilfully twisted around and fired. His humorous demeanour changed when he saw the lighting branch in two directions like a trellised vine, destroying two of the three targets. He stared blankly a moment, stunned by her sudden change in chakra form.

Finally he huffed proudly at her accomplishment and threw another target. After the disc had barely gone a foot from his hand it exploded in a flash of electricity. He fell back in surprise, bringing his hand to his chest in an attempt to calm himself. He looked at the pink haired kunoichi down in the ravine. With the Sharingan he could clearly see an almost impudent grin on her face, daring him to try something new.

He raised an eyebrow accepting the challenge but out of the corner of his red eye he noticed something. He looked up to the head of the waterfall, sniffing the air. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

Sakura widened her stance, staying alert for the next hint that a disk would come flying out of the underbrush. Instead she saw Kakashi himself burst out of the ferns towards her.

_Taijutsu practice?_ she thought, however the somewhat urgent expression on her sensei's masked face told her otherwise. _Does he want me to run?_

However she didn't have much time to make any move when Kakashi was already beside her. He grabbed her by the waist and hurried with her to the other side of the ravine. Her legs just dangled a few inches above the ground until he placed her against the steep slope inside an small cave concealed by vines and ferns.

"What's-?" she began in a hushed voice.

Kakashi surprised her by leaning even closer in the tiny space, practically placing his body around hers, his masked lips were barely an inch from her ear as he whispered in a low breathy voice "Quiet."

Sakura's mouth snapped shut as she once again found Kakashi-sensei a little too close for her comfort, she could even feel his jacket brushing her abdomen.

… _This is uncomfortable… Is there an enemy nearby? Did we get found out? Oh dear… now he's breathing on my neck. Calm down Sakura, there has to be a logical explanation… WHAT IS GOING ON?_

**Ok wait for it, I admit I am being a total jerk about ending it here, but it was the only possible cliff hanger for at least another thousand words (I am so evil), and I feverously wanted to update.**

**Oh, and I'm sure you noticed there was no hot spring exploits, *sigh* I'll try to get it in the NEXT chapter. Also I did some interesting research on how Kakashi addresses people by going through several Shippuden episodes on Hulu. I discovered that Kakashi addresses all of the chuunin in Konoha, and just about anyone younger/equal to him with no suffix. Kind of shows that he is a really informal guy. **

**I never paid much attention before, but now that I'm writing fanfic, that is an important detail! He always addresses Sakura without any suffix, so when he uses a suffix it would be seen as abnormal, must remember that, and so should the rest of y'all! Unless you are doing Gakuen or other AU storylines, then you might.**

**Listened to the Shippuden OST while writing this, you should seriously find a soundtrack of your own somehow, it is fantastic.**

**And my question for those who review, is Kakashi coming a little too strong on the perv side? I don't want to make him seem horribly creepy or anything, most of his "dilemma" is way in the back of his mind, so he's not actively thinking about how cute she every moment of the day, it's just at random, infrequent moments.**

**And also, anything else you can suggest/criticise would be delightful.**

**Wow, my post notes are getting really long… This might not be a good thing, it's going to start to give a misrepresentation of the story length lol.**


	11. XI Kouko

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing of Kishimoto, if I did things would be different and far less brilliant.

Thank you to everyone whose still keeping up with this! You are all awesome! And particularly the ever faithful quarterdark and always-kh, who thinks the lightning chakra details are interesting, makes whoever he is all the cooler. So without further ado I present...

* * *

Chapter 11: Kouko (Anxiety, Looking Back)

Kakashi sniffed the air, trying to detect any stray scents floating on the breeze. He turned his head to tell Sakura he was going to check out the surroundings, but when the tip of his nose brushed her temple he realised exactly how close he was to her. He pulled his head back quickly and saw that Sakura was discretely looking away from him probably to relieve her own awkwardness.

"I'm going to check the area, I'll be right back." he promised.

Sakura just nodded, looking both relieved and alert to her surroundings.

He cautiously emerged from the hiding place, scanning the entire area with his sharingan. He was positive that he had detected something out there. When he sensed the slightest movement again, he charged into the treetops towards the source. He could see a chakra flow clearly, though heavily suppressed. He pulled out a kunai, ready for combat. However when he was finally close enough to get a good enough view he found himself rather disappointed.

"Snow monkeys," he said with a sigh. The cream coloured primates were relaxing near the hot spring pool. Being similar to humans they possess chakra that seems very much like that of an experienced shinobi suppressing their chakra flow.

He was relieved that nothing was wrong, but what he did not look forward to was going back to Sakura and informing her that 'nothing was wrong'. It just seemed to him that it would look like he just needed an excuse to… _No, _he thought, _she knows I'm not some hormone raging teen who pulls stuff like 'you have an eyelash' or other silly excuses to touch the girl he likes. Still, if I'm being honest, I wasn't as upset with being so close as she was…_ He remembered that there had been a slight redness on her cheeks when he left. He grit his teeth and looked at the monkeys._ what am I turning into? _

He shook his head remorsefully. There was no logical reason for him to be thinking like that. It was scientifically normal for a man to feel a certain attraction to almost any reasonably good looking female. That was how the male mind worked, it was just that a man was _usually _smart enough not to let it bother him. _Especially considering that it's-_

Before he could continue in his mental tirade something caught his eye. He coolly walked over to a mossy rock. There was an imprint of a human hand in the soft green carpet. _So, someone was here… this isn't good._ He sniffed the air, but whoever had been there had hightailed away.

_They probably got all the information they needed…_ He grumbled inwardly how this made the mission a bit more complicated. Then again, if he looked on the bright side, at least he knew now that there was someone looking for them in the first place.

Sakura resisted tapping her foot on the ground, lest she make any unnecessary noise. Every minute sound from outside the hiding place made her jump, and it did not help that her heart was still beating faster from the close contact with Kakashi-sensei than from the potentially dangerous situation outside.

Kakashi dropped down from somewhere above, both putting her at ease and making her heart skip a beat.

He waved calmly and said, "False alarm, but I think we've done enough ninjutsu for today, there is a road not too far from here, and one Raiken shot into the sky would be a dead giveaway."

She nodded at the sensible proposal. "Well, I could do that one thing you said not to do without you." she muttered as she pulled the small scroll from her pouch.

He shrugged in agreement and they both found a relatively dry rock to sit on. Unrolling the scroll, Sakura placed it in her lap.

Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan and watched her chakra flow carefully.

Then it happened, her chakra was disturbed and her pupils dilated and moved up and down as if she was reading.

"Sakura," Kakashi called. "Sakura…" he touched her shoulder. No response.

He sighed. _I suppose in order to protect the Haruno family jutsu a genjutsu was placed within the scroll so that only those with the right blood line limit would be able to read it. Pretty clever, I doubt even the Byakugan could discover the meaning. Though it leaves me to wonder, is the kekkei genkai just a genutsu, or is there something more? It's odd for _any_ jutsu to be so thoroughly guarded._

Sakura shifted and looked up, giving her head a shake. "I feel a little tired… I don't really get any of it."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it's just too confusing. You still can't read it, can you?" she asked.

"Nope, I can't see a thing," he replied. "But I do know that the scroll has a jutsu woven into it."

"Oh yes, actually it explains that. Only those who latently possess the blood line can read it. As soon as I master the jutsu, I will be unable to read it as well."

"What is the jutsu you are trying to obtain?" Kakashi asked, his inner curiosity dying for an answer.

"I don't know, it hasn't told me yet. And it has actually referred to at least two jutsu, one for my right the other for my left." Sakura touched her chin thoughtfully. "That's odd, why would I have a jutsu divided over my body."

"You're chakra networks, like your nervous system are divided the same way. You're a medic, you should remember that."

"Oh, I wasn't thinking about that…" Sakura mumbled embarrassed then changed the topic. "I think we can head back now, I'm exhausted. Sorry to bother you for all this training."

"It wasn't a problem," Kakashi insisted.

"Still, this was supposed to be a break." Sakura's suddenly felt nervous when she saw an odd expression cross her sensei's face. "What's wrong."

"Hmm? Oh nothing really, just keep yourself on your toes, this is still technically a mission, don't get caught off guard."

Sakura nodded. "No problem sensei!"

"Sakura!" Ino yelled as she ran up, "It took you long enough! I'm getting tired of watching after Raido all alone."

"Sorry," Sakura said as she entered the lobby, Kakashi following right behind her.

"Well, now that you are here, let's go for a dip." Ino said grabbing her friend's arm. Her nose wrinkled up a little. "You could use a bath, what have you two been up to?"

Though the question was innocent enough Kakashi and Sakura looked at each other hurriedly as they figured out what to say and still keep their cover.

"We went for a run," Kakashi explained.

"Oh," the Yamanaka replied dismissively, "Well Sakura, let us go and disrobe."

Sakura blushed and opened her mouth to protest her friend's big mouth but Ino cut her off.

"And Raido is already out there if you are wondering Kakashi. Hurry before he convinces that redhead to join him."

Kakashi pressed his back against the hot stone bank as he soaked in the mineral rich, heated water. He surprised himself by releasing a rather loud content sigh.

"Great aint it?" Raido called, his voice sounding equally relaxed and pleased.

Kakashi just nodded, not in the mood for conversation. It was then he heard Sakura laugh aloud at something Ino said. He really didn't like how much his heart sped up at just the sound of her voice. He wondered when he started to be so observant of her voice, her looks, how she walked, what she said, everything involving her he would commit it to memory and mull over it later. He looked over at the divider and thought of how disturbed she would be if she knew he was thinking about her.

He looked up at the darkening sky and placed a hand on his forehead. _So just reminding myself, _he began his inward lecture on his attitudes towards a certain coworker._ Sakura is a reasonably attractive young lady, and she's someone I platonically recognise as such. _He liked that explanation, that proved that staring at her delicate chin and flawless neck was just an indifferent observation of her objectively good looks.

_She's cute… exactly, like a girl, she's cute, not attractive because I am NOT attracted… bingo! _This description was even better.

Suddenly he stopped, his face clouded up in worry. _Wait, I just demoted her from attractive to cute like a little girl… and I'm always looking at her… _that_ doesn't sound right. Ok, she's cute like… a young adult, besides, cute is better than attractive…_ He shook his head. _This isn't working, ok, how about another approach._

He remembered one of the useless courses in school: "Emotional Harmony in the Shinobi." _Wow I hated that class._ Despite his inner hatred he regulated his breathing, thought of a calm place, and then started the exercise. _Just keep imagining how she and I are from two different social groups. I am a mature adult who is- was- no is her mentor… even though technically she's an adult in the village's eyes… but not in mine! I remember when she was Sasuke's little fangirl! Gosh that was irritating. Even more annoying in retrospect! _His previously calm mood was overtaken with intense ire. His hatred of her Sasuke obsession all started back on their first mission where the little brat copied what he said, and somehow she saw Sasuke as cooler than her teacher… _And that was the first time I was jealous of that little…_

Kakashi sat up straight, water pouring off of his chest and abs and splashing into the steaming pond.

Raido looked up, "Something wrong Kakashi?" his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

The silver haired jounin ignored him. His one open eye roved about as if it was in a panicked frenzy. _Did I? No I couldn't have? But… no, I was just irritated at the different treatment. But still, I always did protect her. _He rolled his eyes, _Of course I did! She was the weakest, she needed the protection, she was young and not very capable back then._

_Another point to remember, she's immature… _he stopped there, feeling bad about that statement. _No, she isn't. She is very mature, I just don't want to recognise it, she can take care of herself. She has gone through far more than anyone should have to and she still pulled through able to smile. So where does this leave my definition of Sakura?_ He looked over at the divider, wondering what he was supposed to do.

"-and then Chouji looked at Asuma like a kicked puppy! It was so adorable, and I don't usually call him that."

Sakura joined in with Ino's laughter. She looked at her friend and admired how easily she could talk about her memories, especially the ones with Asuma. "How do you do it?"

"Huh?" Ino looked at her pink haired companion quizzically.

"Talk about Asuma." Sakura said hesitantly.

Ino sighed then put on a quiet smile very uncharacteristic of the hyperactive blonde. "If I didn't talk about him, I would miss him a lot more. The more I repeat the moments we had together, the better I remember him. The one thing that scares me the most is forgetting something about him. I even bring his picture around with me."

"Really?" Sakura looked at her friend in a new light. She had never thought Ino was this sentimental.

"I'll go get it!" Ino declared. She pulled herself from the hot water, wrapped a towel around herself and hurried to the room. A few moments later she returned, handing a laminated picture to Sakura.

Sakura accepted it, and immediately she felt as if she had been punched in the chest. It was a picture from a festival day a couple years ago. Ino was wearing a beautiful dress, a little too mature of a style for a fourteen year old, but it was _Ino_ after all. She had her arms wrapped around Asuma's left elbow. Her teacher was also dressed formally though he had a rather reluctant air about him, which showed through his awkward smile in comparison to Ino's radiant one.

"It took me forever to convince him to dress up. Can you believe he was planning on wearing casuals to a festival?"

Sakura smiled, she couldn't imagine Asuma dressing up at all.

"Of course, when he saw Kurenai, he used the outfit to his advantage." Ino sighed almost grumpily. "Then off the two went, _after_ I snatched him for a photo. That was the time when I _knew_ they had something going on."

Sakura was welling up in pride for her friend, and shame on herself. She could tell how dear Asuma had been, like another father or older brother, and Ino spoke so happily of him. Then there was Sasuke, whose name if spoken once threw Sakura into a pit of depression.

"So, what were you doing with Kakashi earlier?" Ino asked slyly.

Ino's words tore Sakura back to reality rather forcefully.

"Two people don't get that sweaty going for a walk." Sakura could feel the scrutiny of two suspicious eyes on her.

"Err… Well we did go for a walk." Sakura admitted.

"And then?" Ino pried.

Sakura blushed a little. Rather embarrassing images of the training arrived rather suddenly. All she had to say was that they trained and the conversation would be over, but her tongue was snatched away by the embarrassment cat.

Ino's expression turned to something between surprise and worry. "Kakashi didn't do… _anything _out of the ordinary, did he?"

Sakura realised the context of her friend's question, she knew she had to say something fast. "Yes,"

Ino's blond eyebrow snapped upwards.

_Dang it, not what I wanted to say!_ "Umm, I mean, he did do something out of the ordinary, a few things actually, but they weren't weird! Well they were at times but not in _that_ way!"

"What way exactly?" Ino was fast getting images of her fist making contact with the masked sensei's concealed teeth.

"We were just training. But it was awkward at times."

After a pause Ino prodded her in frustration. "Tell me everything." Her serious expression could not hide the eager glint in her eye.

Realising she had no escape, Sakura began. "Kakashi, he had been pretty cold to me shortly after this mission started, and I really didn't know how to take it."

"No kidding," Ino interrupted. "Even _I _thought he was rude."

Sakura looked to the side bashfully, "But then when we were there in that valley training, it was like he was his old self but more." She stared at the surface of the water, as if words would start to appear among the steam for her to say. "He was so relaxed, and kind of playful. He didn't maintain the normal distance he always did. He wasn't worried about touching my hand, or standing real close."

"Hmm," Ino rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "If I didn't know this was Kakashi, I would suspect he was up to something. There are a few possibilities I see, in order of likelihood. One, he's at that weird spot where an adult notices that you aren't a child anymore and is trying to treat you like a peer but over-compensates. That's not uncommon. Two, he's been reading too many girly fictions and needs to get back to reading something perverted to avoid emasculating. Or three, he's trying to reform your relationship into something closer… if you catch my drift."

Before Sakura could reply she felt the ground shift underfoot.

"Earthquake?" Ino asked as the tremors increased.

Within a few moments the shaking stopped and the two girls sighed in relief, that was until they turned to see that there was no wooden divider. They stared blankly in front of them, casually noting that it had fallen down on the boys' side. Through the mist they saw two waist deep forms. It was then that it finally clicked…

They covered themselves and opened their mouths to let out the customary scream but were cut off.

"Ahhh!"

They were rather perplexed that such a masculine scream had escaped their throats, that was until they realised that it was Raido's, the man who was currently cowering neck deep in the water.

Ino and Sakura looked at each other wondering what was protocol if they were cut off from their scream. They kind of shrugged as they lowered themselves into the water.

A waist deep Kakashi walked over towards them and began to lift the floating barrier.

Ino made a low whistle in admiration, which made Sakura realise that she had been staring at Kakashi's bare, muscular chest for the last twenty seconds.

"Oh dear!" Sakura exclaimed as she turned around, her crimson face focused on the water.

"Thanks," Kakashi said sarcastically, replying to Ino's whistle. "Hey Raido, gonna stop cowering and help me lift this?"

Raido's cheeks were redder than a tomato's, but he complied and helped push up the divider.

"You're not bad either bro," Ino said, winking at the jounin, who blushed even further.

A sliding door opened from the inn and one of the maids knelt at the porch bowing profusely. "My deepest apologies, we have regular quakes but the dividers are supposed to withstand them."

"No, it's not a problem," Kakashi insisted kindly, waving the employee off.

The divider thumped into a slot securely, returning the privacy.

"I suppose that's a sign to end our bath." Ino said.

"Yeah…" Sakura agreed. The two of them fled to their room and hurriedly dressed.

Sakura flopped onto the bed. A growling sound emitted from her stomach. "We need to eat dinner soon."

"About Kakashi…" Ino said.

"What about him?"

"Did you like his physique?"

"Huh!"

"Judging by how long you just ogled at him, you got an eyeful."

"Shut up Ino!" In truth, Sakura didn't remember a single detail except that he was wearing an infuriating towel around his lower face.

Ino continued her assessment, "Though Raido was more muscular, but kind of scarred, and tanned. A little less shapely. Kakashi was symetrical-"

"I really would prefer that we changed the topic. I mean, it's my teacher after all, and that was just too awkward."

"I had some awkward experiences with Asuma too, you know." Ino looked at Sakura playfully. "It's kind of bound to happen eventually when people work together long enough. In my case he walked in on me when I was changing. I remember feeling so ashamed like I could never get married. But later he apologised, profusely, but ever sense than, I could care less about appearing like the virtuous young lady."

_So it's Asuma's fault! _Sakura ground her teeth in irritation at the man who had caused her friend to become such a societal embarrassment… then she felt guilty thinking ill of the dead.

"Okay, I told you what my embarrassing situation was, you tell me yours, _in detail_."

Sakura sighed wearily.

**And I finally had the hot springs! Took me long enough. I apologise to the male readers for the lack of descriptive fanservice, but you see, I don't like fanservice, so it didn't happen… however, there was a bit in the way of manservice for the ladies… _ I seriously need to rectify this, but my sister kind of helps proofread, and it would be kind of weird…**

**I had the toughest time coming up with a title and only came up with it as I was writing this.**

**I can't think of any questions… except maybe what's your favourite kind of cookie? Because if you review I'll send you an imaginary one by express! (Mine is Oatmeal Rasin… makes me think of Grandma ;_;)**

**Next week: The vacation ends and a face off with the enemy begins.**


	12. XII Jishinkaminarikajioyaji

Chapter 12: Jishinkaminarikajioyaji (Earthquakes, Thunder, Fires)

After long hours of soaking in the hot springs, mud baths, and massages, every muscle in Sakura's body felt like jelly as she walked forward. She would feel entirely in bliss if it weren't for the heavy pack on her back and the steep mountain road that was quickly making her build up a sweet. Thankfully the aromatic herbs she had bathed in would cover up the stench of travel at least until they reached their next destination. Early that morning, Raido, Ino, Kakashi, and herself had all departed from the hot spring town. A couple kilometres down the treacherous road north they found a hollow in a tree hidden by genjutsu. From within that hollow Sakura and Ino retrieved the heavy packs of rare medicines that currently tortured their backs.

The kunoichi tried valiantly to make it seem as if the packs did not bother them, but they still solicited a few pitying glances from their jonin protectors. Raido in particular seemed like he would take the pack himself any moment, even though he should not because he was here to stay alert and protect the medics from harm.

Just as Raido was assisting Sakura down a particularly steep incline, an earthquake hit again. The pinkette tilted to the side precariously granting her a stunning view of the wooded ravine to her right. A rough hand snatched her wrist and yanked her back away from the drop making her fall into the steep but soft slope to her right as the earth continued to rumble.

"Arigatou, Raido-san."

Raido answered after checking to see if Ino was fine. She had been on an safer portion of the trail and maintained her footing easily. "It's tough with that pack, isn't it." He was about to offer to carry it for her, but she refused graciously. It was her part of the mission, she was not about to abandon it.

Kakashi stood still. He looked at the trees on the other side of the ravine and noted how they were not shaking. Raising his headband, he used his Sharingan and noticed stray chakra in the stone. Before he could even shout or sign a warning he heard a familiar voice yelp in surprise behind him.

He whirled and immediately saw a black serpentine thing wrapping itself around Sakura's leg. She gasped in disgust as the fluidic form slithered further up her thigh. She tugged forward but instead felt herself lose all footing as she was whipped back into the depths of the ravine.

"No!" Raido shouted, his hand just barely scraping her fingers as she disappeared over the edge.

Silently, Kakashi moved to follow but the cliff face before him erupted into a wall, out of which protruded stone spikes. _A mix of mud wall jutsu and stone spear jutsu. All we need, a combo expert._ With his Sharingan Kakashi could already tell that he was dealing with at least three enemy chuunin or jounin.

"Shinobi of the Leaf, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Raido moaned in despair when before them materialised the bespectacled redhead from the hot spring that had so captivated him. "Just my luck."

"Why hello there." she waved, relishing how even though they were now opponents, the scarred ninja could not hide his reddening cheeks.

"What do you want?" Kakashi demanded as he strategically placed himself between Ino and the woman.

"I should think that would be obvious." the redhead grumbled, her hands a blur as she formed a series of hand signs.

Kakashi gritted his teeth behind his mask. He had not seen this one's chakra yet, now he knew there were at least four nin. That would delay him by at least a minute before he could get to Sakura and ensure the safety of the rest of his team. _Sakura, don't let me down!_

* * *

Sakura braced herself as she entered the forest canopy, wiggling out of the way of sharp branches. She spotted an opportune limb and kicked off of it, sending herself tumbling towards a massive, branchless trunk of an ancient cedar. Infusing her feet and hands with chakra she latched onto the broad surface and came to a stop like a fly on a wall. She moved on instinct when she heard a suspicious noise and successfully dodged another black snake. Judging by the residue left by the one on her leg, it was probably some sort of oil based jutsu, and she felt particularly worried by the fumy stench it gave off.

Suddenly a whirl of dark clothing dashed at her. Sakura was engaged in a deadly dance up and down and around the trunk, the ground nowhere in sight below as she desperately attempted to avoid the nin's assault. Unfortunately all she could perceive was a dark blur and each time she dodged the nin's blade would get slightly closer. Finally Sakura figured that she would only succeed in a failing deadlock so she infused her feet with chakra and jumped, plunging towards the yet concealed forest floor. Hoping desperately that she would not regret her action she swung her feet beneath her and a bright blue glow surrounded her extended foot. She felt an odd pain as she released lightning chakra from her toes just before her foot made contact with the dirt.

The earth shattered beneath her as it was torn asunder and created a ripple of massive destruction like she was a bolder thrown into a lake, also sending a geyser like blast of dust and rubble up beyond the distant canopy and columns of lightning connected heaven an earth and bolts of electricity ran along the cracks in the earth. Using only a just a sudden burst of chakra she successfully caused a chain reaction that drew from the static and geothermic energies of the clouds and the ground.

Sore and having sustained a nasty sprain, all Sakura could do was hold her breath and wait for the dust to clear.

* * *

Ino shuddered at the booming cacophony that erupted behind her, forcing her to turn around to see. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of the pillar of dust that shot into the sky. _D-did Sakura do that? _Then the flashes of lightning blinded her momentarily.

Once her eyes recovered she looked around desperately for an opening, any way that she could hurry to her friend's side and fulfil the mission; protecting the precious substances in their packs. Before her, seven rock clones emerged from the path and stood at ready. All of them mirrored the appearance of a green, portly, shinobi who sported long brown braids that tumbled over his broad shoulders.

Raido materialised beside Ino, drawing his pitch black blade. He gave a stern nod in reassurance that he was still protecting her.

"You are not going anywhere sister, and even if you did make it to pinky, Kai is more than enough for either of you." When the ninja noticed the pained expression on the beautiful blonde's face he frowned. "What's up with you? Are you chewing on a lemon?"

"No, just amazed that there is someone else in the world with as bad a taste in clothes as Might Guy Sensei. And trust me, the braids are completely an abomination."

The shinobi and all his clones looked puzzled at the oddly out of place comment in relation to the situation. He shook his head. "Well… anyway… let's just get on with it."

Suddenly Ino collapsed and screamed. "Landslide!"

Raido's look of confusion only lasted a moment. "Ino, ignore it, it's a genjutsu."

Kakashi glared at the redhead. "Raido, you and Ino deal with braids. I'll take care of her." He opened his sharingan wide.

"Oh I'm so scared." The redhead replied mockingly. A slight smile on her face. "However, I already have you figured out."

* * *

The dust began to clear so the dark clad ninja stepped into the crater. He scanned the area but could not see her. He could not even sense her chakra anywhere because her kick to the ground had left a residual electromagnetic field, destroying all attempts to sniff her out the easy way.

Sakura pressed closer into the rock she hid behind. She drew her short katana from her waist and used the reflective surface to see around the corner. Her assailant had his back turned. Struggling up she placed all her weight on her good ankle. She had to quick to catch him off guard. Rushing chakra to her feet she dashed around the corner. She swung her blade at the nin's unprotected back.

At the last moment he spun around and snatched her wrist. "Got you young one!"

_He knew!_

An oil serpent appeared behind his back and slammed into her body pounding her into the ground. She hit the back of her head and saw stars, and something else; her grandmother's scroll unrolled in the branches above. All the strange lettering had gathered into the centre forming five crescent moons radiating outwards from a black full moon.

Her eyes shown bright verdant green and the world slowed and she became deaf to even the pounding of her own heart. The ninja's blade lowered to her throat to end her life, but to Sakura his hand was almost staying still. She moved chakra to her hand and it sparked as lighting surrounded the tips of her finger.

The dark masked ninja cocked an eyebrow at her sudden change in her eyes. But he ignored it and brought his blade to slice her, but the moment the blade touched her flesh he felt numb sensation over his whole body and could feel her touch, but he was certain the girl had not moved. His eyes rolled back, and he died, unknown to him that his oesophagus, jugular vein, and spinal cord had been severed by raiken. His stiff body tumbled down, covering the kunoichi like a bag of flour.

Sakura's hearing returned just in time to hear the sickening thud of his body falling atop of hers. She tried to move but she was completely drained and so to her terror she was stuck beneath a warm corpse until her friends found her. She bit her tongue to keep from crying or retching in disgust. Still tears rolled down her cheeks in a mixture of fear, relief and revulsion.

"Someone… come…" she breathed.

* * *

The redheaded, genjutsu user's face contorted in an expression between agony and surprise. She looked down to see a ball of electricity flaring from a fist sized hole in her chest. The white haired warrior ripped his sparking hand from the woman as she drew her final breath and fell to the ground.

He glanced up at Raido as he cleaned blood from his black blade and Ino rose recovering from her mind switch jutsu.

Raido looked up at Kakashi. "Hey, Ino was able to get in the fourth ninja's mind. Whoever it is, he's hightailing it out of here. Should we pursue?"

Kakashi walked towards the cliff edge, seeming to ignore the scarred nin. "Probably going to get reinforcements." he said aloud to no one in particular then jumped down the cliff into the forest below.

Raido shrugged. "I guess we wait here?"

* * *

After some rest, Sakura felt that she finally had enough strength to move the enemy nin's body off of her. Slowly she dragged herself out from under him. When his head fell to the ground and hit a rock she caught herself apologising. _I'm sure apologies mean a whole lot to a dead man._

Her body was shaking. She had killed people before, but never before had it felt this… personal. She was face to face with the man, expecting to be killed when all of a sudden the tide turned and she won and watched up close as the man's spirit departed. She looked at the body and the charred hole through his abdomen. She also felt another emotion, empathy. This man was not necessarily even bad, just a ninja under orders, and now someone, somewhere had lost their father, brother, son.

She flopped back against the crater's loose slope.

"Sakura!"

Shuddering in surprise and relief she opened her mouth to speak but her throat was so full of dust the sounds that came out are hardly more than a mumble.

"Sakura? Sakura!"

_That's Kakashi! Shouldn't he be able to detect me? Why is he shouting?_ "I'm here!"

The ground crumbled beside her as a Kakashi landed and stared down at her. "You alright?"

"Besides a sprained ankle I'm fine. How is everyone else."

"Better than you." His eye crinkled pleasantly. He offered a hand to help her up.

"Why couldn't you track me? I mean, it's not typical to go announcing your position."

Kakashi had a ready made answer. "That explosion you made earlier scattered the scents around here and your chakra is everywhere but inside you." _And I was impatient to know if you were ok._

Sakura giggled a little as she leaned on his shoulder. "I guess I overdid it a bit."

"I assume you can't just heal your ankle then."

"No."

Kakashi nodded leaning his student against a log and gathered her backpack. He heard a rustling above him and looked up just in time to catch the Haruno scroll as if fell from the tree. "Is this everything?"

"Let me see." After rustling through the bag she nodded in approval and put it on her back.

"Hop on then." Kakashi turned around and knelt down, offering a piggyback.

Seeing no alternative option she clambered on, wrapped her arms over his shoulders as her took hold of her thighs. She turned slightly green when she had a sudden flashback when Guy-sensei had done similarly for Kakashi. _For both our sakes, I'll try to forget that thought._

"Ready?"

"Yes." She gripped his jacket tightly as he ran through the forest.

* * *

_She's lighter than she looks._ Kakashi thought absentmindedly, assessing Sakura's frame that was pressed against his back. _With all that strength I would think there would be more bulk to her. _

"Sakura, I'm going to run diagonally up the cliff face, you'll need to hold one tight."

"Yes."

_Come to think of it, this is the first time I've carried her in a long time. She's grown up a lot, not so much in the right places yet though. …pervert… _He wondered if he was blushing beneath his mask._ Here I thought not reading hentai would be a step up for me. But this whole mission my mind has been more in the gutter than before. First thing I'm doing when we get to the Land of Lightning: Icha Icha Violence! That should take care of the problem. Then again… I thought I detected a hint of pride from Sakura when she noticed I didn't have my nose in Icha Icha… would she be disappointed? I want my students to respect me…_

He leapt up on top of the cliff to see Raido and Ino. He felt Sakura slip off and grab his arm for support. It made him feel, proud. Even after she just displayed her capability to handle herself alone, she was still fine with admitting she needed his help. It felt good to be needed, especially by her.

Ino ran forward her face rife with concern. "Sakura, are you ok?"

"Fine, just sprained my ankle."

"If we wait a while I could probably heal it." Ino offered.

Raido shook his head. "No, we don't know how far away those reinforcements might be. We could take turns carrying her."

Sakura was about to reply but Kakashi spoke up before her. "I don't mind, you need to be our rear guard." He was careful to not look Sakura in the eye. The truth was, he enjoyed carrying her, it was an innocent way to be close. This would off him a chance to make up for all the stupid things he said and did that might have hurt her over the past few days.

Seconds later the squad had vanished from the battleground, chakra granting supernatural speed to their flight.

* * *

**Got the fight done and over with in just one chapter! I feel kind of proud of myself for not dragging that out.**

**Been a long time since the last update but I can't control the plot bunnies or my own life (college, other priorities).**

**I hope you all enjoy this though and I do have the ending planned out, so no worries, this is not an endless plot but there is still quite a distance to go. Expect character development next chapter as well as more connection to the manga.**


End file.
